Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is an Indian cricketer who currently captains the India national team. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, and has been the team's captain since 2013.
Born: 5 November 1988 (age 31 years), New Delhi
Height: 1.75 m
ODI debut (cap 175): 18 August 2008 v Sri Lanka
Test debut (cap 269): 20 June 2011 v West Indies
T20I debut (cap 31): 12 June 2010 v Zimbabwe
Last ODI: 11 February 2020 v New Zealand.
Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in Delhi into a Punjabi Hindu family. His father, Prem Kohli, worked as a criminal lawyer and his mother, Saroj Kohli, is a housewife. He has an older brother, Vikas, and an older sister, Bhavna. According to his family, when he was three-years old, Kohli would pick up a cricket bat, start swinging it and ask his father to bowl at him.
Kohli was raised in Uttam Nagar and started his schooling at Vishal Bharti Public School. In 1998, the West Delhi Cricket Academy was created and a nine-year-old Kohli was part of its first intake. Kohli's father took him to the academy after their neighbours suggested that "Virat shouldn't waste his time in gully cricket and instead join a professional club". Kohli trained at the academy under Rajkumar Sharma and also played matches at the Sumeet Dogra Academy at Vasundhara Enclave at the same time. Sharma recounts Kohli's early days at his academy, "He oozed talent. It was so difficult to keep him quiet. He was a natural in whatever he did and I was most impressed with his attitude. He was ready to bat at any spot, and I had to literally push him home after the training sessions. He just wouldn’t leave." In ninth grade, he shifted to Saviour Convent in Paschim Vihar to help his cricket practice. Apart from sports, Kohli was good at academics as well, and his teachers remember him as "a bright and alert child". Kohli's family lived in Meera Bagh until 2015 when they moved to Gurgaon.
Kohli's father died on 18 December 2006 due to a stroke after being bed-ridden for a month. Regarding his early life, Kohli has said in an interview, "I've seen a lot in life. Losing my father at a young age, the family business not doing too well, staying in a rented place. There were tough times for the family... It's all embedded in my memory." According to Kohli, his father supported his cricket training during his childhood, "My father was my biggest support. He was the one who drove me to practice every day. I miss his presence sometimes."
Kohli started dating Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma in 2013; the couple soon earned the celebrity couple nickname "Virushka". Their relationship attracted substantial media attention, with persistent rumours and speculations in the media, as neither of the two publicly talked about it. The couple married on 11 December 2017 in a private ceremony in Florence, Italy.
Kohli has admitted that he is superstitious. He used to wear black wristbands as a cricket superstition; earlier, he used to wear the same pair of gloves with which he had "been scoring". Apart from a religious black thread, he has also been wearing a kara on his right arm since 2012.
According to Kohli, football is his second favourite sport. In 2014, Kohli became a co-owner of Indian Super League club FC Goa. He stated that he invested in the club with the "keenness of football" and because he "wanted football to grow in India". He added, "It's a business venture for me for the future. Cricket's not going to last forever and I'm keeping all my options open after retirement."
In September 2015, Kohli became a co-owner of the International Premier Tennis League franchise UAE Royals, and, in December that year, became a co-owner of the JSW-owned Bengaluru Yodhas franchise in Pro Wrestling League.
As of September 2017, Kohli has endorsement deals with 17 brands. Among the brands he endorsed in early 2018 are American Tourister, Audi, Boost, Colgate-Palmolive, Gillette, Gionee, Herbalife, MRF, Manyavar, New Era, Puma, Punjab National Bank, Tissot, Uber and Vicks. The brands Kohli previously endorsed include 3C Company, Celkon Mobiles, Cinthol (from Godrej), Clear (from Unilever), Fair & Lovely, Fastrack (from Titan), Pepsi, Flying Machine, Mattel, Munch (from Nestle), Oakley, Red Chief Shoes, Royal Challenge (from United Breweries), Sangam Suiting and Toyota Motors.
In March 2019, Kohli was signed up as brand ambassador of mobile esports platform Mobile Premier League.
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