He made his debut on this day (18th August) way back in 2008 (a decade ago) and today, he is not only India’s captain in all three formats of the game but also is the team’s premier batsman.
He is the rock in that Indian middle-order in all three forms and is by far, the best batsman in the line-up. Kohli burst onto the scene as a young chubby and talented cricketer but the way he’s transformed himself to become one of the best batsmen of the modern era is remarkable.
Thus, as Kohli completes 10 years in international cricket today, let’s rewind 10 years and year by year, go through the pictures and his transformation in international cricket.
2008
After leading India to the Under-19 World Cup title early in the year, Virat Kohli represented Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the inaugural season and played 13 games. Despite having a mediocre season, he was drafted into the Indian ODI side after Virender Sehwag was injured for the series in Sri Lanka.
On debut, he scored just 12 but he played all 5 games of the series. He struck one half-century and went past the 20-run mark in the next four innings.
2009
The year 2009 saw Virat Kohli get more chances as he played 10 ODIs. He didn’t do too much in his first two games of the year but in the Champions Trophy game against West Indies, he struck an eye-catching 79.
Later, in December, he went onto score his maiden international ton when he scored 107 while chasing 316 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He averaged 54.17 that year and scored a couple of the fifties before scoring that magnificent maiden ton.
2010
The year 2010 was the coming of age of Virat Kohli. He got more opportunities at No. 3 and he started becoming a lot more consistent. In 24 innings in 2010, Kohli amassed 995 runs at an average of 47.38 where he scored 3 hundred and 7 fifties. Two of those hundreds came in run-chases (against Bangladesh and Australia).
Kohli also made his T20I debut in 2010 and in his first innings, he scored an unbeaten 26 in a run-chase.
2011
2011 can be termed as a special year for Virat Kohli. For a young man who was yet to turn 23, became a World Cup winner. He scored 282 runs in the tournament and scored a ton in the opening game. He also scored a crucial 35 in the final against Sri Lanka.
After the World Cup, he made his Test debut in West Indies but didn’t have a great start to his red-ball international career. He scored just 76 runs in 5 innings in his first Test series.
However, despite not having the best first year in Test cricket, he continued to take giant strides in the limited-overs formats. He amassed more than 1300 ODI runs which included four hundreds and eight fifties in 2011.
2012
In 2012, Kohli showed that he has the ability to do well in Test cricket as well. He scored three hundreds and averaged close to 50 that year in Tests. On a disastrous tour to Australia in 2011-12, Virat Kohli just came into his own.
He struck his maiden Test hundred at Adelaide. He was also amidst controversy during that Test series when he showed the middle finger in the Sydney Test.
In ODIs, he continued his dream run. He struck five hundreds that year in ODI cricket. Two of them stood out. 133 against Sri Lanka when India had to chase down 320 in 40 overs and 183 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
He was not too far behind in T20Is as well. He amassed 471 runs at an average of almost 40.
2013
In 2013, Virat Kohli stamped his authority as the chase master. For the third consecutive year, he scored more than 1000 runs in ODI cricket. He scored an important 43 in the final of the Champions Trophy. He then struck two superb hundreds against Australia chasing in excess of 350 (one was a 52-ball 100 and the other came was a 66-ball 115).
In Test cricket, he scored a ton against Australia at home and also made some small contributions on rank turners. At the end of that year, he went to South Africa and completely bossed the Proteas as he scored 119 and 96 in the first Test.
2014
2014 saw the transformation of Virat Kohli. He saw the extreme ends of the game where he just couldn’t score anything in England to scoring heavily in Australia. Barring that entire tour of England, Kohli had a decent year. He almost single-handedly won the World T20 for India. He was the Man of the Series in that World T20.
But then came the tour to England where he just couldn’t buy a run. He could only manage 134 runs in 10 Test innings and scored just 54 runs in 4 ODI innings. But then came the tour to Australia where he absolutely dominated the Aussies.
He made his captaincy debut in the first Test in MS Dhoni’s absence. He struck twin centuries and almost took India home in that first Test. He capped off the year with a brilliant counter-attacking 169 at the MCG.
2015
In 2015, he took over as full-time Test captain after MS Dhoni announced his retirement mid-way through the four-match Test series in Australia. There was also a slight dip in Kohli’s form. For the first time since 2010, he failed to cross the 1000-run mark in ODI cricket. For the first time since 2008, he averaged less than 40 in a calendar year.
Even in Test cricket, his consistency wasn’t like the last few years. He did score a couple of hundreds but overall, Kohli didn’t have a great 2015 as a batsman.
2016
In 2016, Kohli was back to his normal self, scoring out runs and hundreds at will. He scaled some unbelievable peaks in T20 cricket.
He scored 641 runs in T20Is that year at an average of 106.83 and was the Man of the Series for the second consecutive time in the World T20. He scored a staggering 973 runs in the IPL which included 4 hundreds.
He scored three double tons in Test cricket in a year where he scaled 1000 runs in a year for the first time in his Test career. He averaged more than 75 in every format in 2016.
2017
Kohli was handed the captaincy in all formats after MS Dhoni stepped down before the first series in 2017. He led from the front and kept scoring runs. He did have a poor Test series against Australia where he scored just 46 runs in five innings. But, that was the only low of the year.
He scored over 1000 runs in both Tests and ODIs and also scored 299 runs in T20Is. In fact, he scored 12 international tons in 2017 and his consistency continued.
2018
2018 saw Virat Kohli be the one-man army, especially in Test cricket. In South Africa and England, he has carried the Indian batting line-up alone and has been India’s best batsman in ODI cricket as well.
So far, he has scored 749 runs in 9 games in ODI cricket and 526 runs in 10 innings in Tests. He scored tons in South Africa and has also conquered his England demons (after a disastrous tour in 2014). His numbers in T20Is have dipped as he has only managed 146 runs in 7 innings.
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