Virat Kohli is one of the most loved Indian Cricketer in cricketing history. He is one of those cricketers who has made many girls interested in cricket. Not only does he has the most dashing looks with that tough beard, but he has the guts and skills to outperform as a sportsperson. He is not only the most loved but also one of the most successful and record-breaking cricketers of all times.

Born on 5th November 1988, Virat Kolhi is the current captain of Indian National Cricket Team, AKA The Men in Blue since 2017. Apart from this, he is also the captain and the star player of IPL’s Royal Challenger Bengaluru team. Kolhi has been ranked the top ODI Batsman in the world and since October 2017. He is currently 2nd best in Test rankings. Among Indian batsmen, Kohli has the best Test rating (937 points), ODI rating (911 points) and T20I rating (897 points).

On the occasion of his birthday, we have gathered some amazing piece of information about his personal life, his cricket records and the awards received by him.

Unknown Facts About Virat Kohli:

1. We ought to know Virat Kohli by his nickname ‘Cheeku’. But we never knew that this name was given to him by his Former Delhi coach Ajit Chaudhary when he joined the Delhi Ranji team.

2. In 2006, Kolhi lost his father. However, just the next day, he was ready to play a Ranji Match against Karnataka Team. Not only did Kolhi batted but ended up scoring 90 runs. His father must be so proud.

3. Although he is currently married to Bollywood diva & actress Anushka Sharma, he once revealed in a conversation that his first crush was Bollywood actress Karishma Kapoor.

4. Virat Kohli is the current captain of the India Cricket Team since 2017. However, has also captained India’s Under-19 cricket team to the U-19 World Cup in 2008.

5. The stud cricket has 4 tattoos on his body. He has a golden dragon and a samurai warrior tattoo on his hand. Kolhi believes that these two tattoos bring him good luck.

9. Many of us have dreams of going on a date with our favourite celebrities. So If you wish to invite Kohli to a dinner date sometime, you should know that his favourite recipe is Mutton biryani and kheer. Although he likes it best when it’s cooked by his mother.

10. In 2012, Virat Kolhi was ranked as one of the 10 Best Dressed International Men. The list also included US President Barrack Obama. You can now understand the level of international reputation that he holds.

11. Also, he has been rated as the 13th most marketable sportsperson in the world SportsPro has rated him. The list also includes Cristiano Ronaldo and Usain Bolt.

Virat Kolhi made his:

– T20 debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on Jun 12, 2010.

– ODI debut against Sri Lanka at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Aug 18, 2008

– Test debut against West Indies at Sabina Park on Jun 20, 2011

– IPL debut against vs Kolkata Knight Riders at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Apr 18, 2008

Here is a list of famous records that he has broken to recreate since then.

1. Playing against Bangladesh in the 2011 World Cup opener, he became the first and only Indian to score a century on World Cup debut.

2. In 2012, he was named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year. At the age of 23!

3. He has scored the fastest century by an Indian in ODIs, against Australia in just 52 balls in 2013.

4. He is the only Indian batsman to secure 890 rating points in the ICC ODI ranking. Earlier the best rating was held by the Sachin Tendulkar in 1998 (887 RP). Also, he is only the second Indian batsman after Sunil Gavaskar (916 RP) to reach the 900-point mark in the ICC Test Batsmen Rankings i.e. 922 Rating points.

4. Kohli has become the only cricketer to score 6 double centuries as a captain in test matches, surpassing Cricket legend Brian Lara who made five double centuries as a test captain.

5. In October 2018, Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 10,000 ODI runs by doing so in just 205 innings. Earlier this record was held by Sachin Tendulkar who took 259 innings to touch this landmark. Apart from this, he reached the milestone in 10 years and 68 days, surpassing Rahul Dravid who scored 10,000 ODI runs after playing for 10 years & 317 days. Further, he also became the fastest to score 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year by beating Hashim Amla’s record of 15 innings.

7. Virat Kohli became the first player to hit consecutive 3 centuries in against two opponents (West Indies & Sri Lanka).

8. He became the only captain to score the most ODI runs in a year by scoring 1460 runs in 2017 by breaking the record of former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting’s (1424 runs in 2007).

9. Kohli became the first captain in ODI to smash six ODI tons in a calendar year by hitting 6 centuries in the 2017 and 2018 each.

10. As a captain Kohli’s success rate is 75.89% which is better than M.S. Dhoni, making him the most successful Indian ODI captain.

Awards:

Kolhi has received three National Awards Including:

– Arjuna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee in 2013.

– Padma Shri Award, India’s fourth-highest civilian award by President Pranab Mukherjee in 2017

– Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s Highest Sporting Honor by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind in 2018

Apart from this, there is a long list of awards, records and achievements that he has made to make himself, his father, his family, the whole cricketing community & above all, the Nation India as a whole, proud of him.

Happy Birthday to you Virat Kolhi!

We Love You!