DRIVEN The VIRAT KOHLI Story

 One-Day Debut and Career

The grind of the summer cricket circuit in Delhi introduces a player to the harsh are made and marred in conditions best described as unfriendly. The local champions wait to maul the established stars and even stalwarts like Kapil Dev, Ashok Malhotra, N.S. Sidhu, Yashpal Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar have experienced it for years. Virat was groomed in such situations and it helped him shape his game. It trained him to fight tooth and nail. Moreover, nothing has been handed over to him on a silver platter.

Raja Venkat recalled the Deodhar Trophy held at Baroda (March 2010), which North won under the captaincy of Virat. 'The way he led the team to victory showed that he had the capacity to command respect. The consistency factor was significant in his growth, but I have seen few players with such assurance and self-belief. And look how his batting has evolved from primarily on-side play to off-side. Of late, you can see him execute the sweep and the square cut profitably. It is this motivation that helped Virat grow'.

Virat was game to opening the innings in his first ODI at Dambullah on 18 August 2008, two years after his first-class debut.