Dilip Vengsarkar, Former BCCI Chief Selector, Reveals How Virat Kohli Earned His Place in the Indian Team

Virat Kohli is arguably the best batsman, if not the best, in the modern era and his numbers in all forms of cricket are nothing but sensational. With 70 international centuries against his name, many cricket experts and pundits tout him to surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 100 tons in international cricket. However, Kohli’s illustrious journey in international cricket commenced on August 2008. Recently former chief selector of Indian cricket team Dilip Vengsarkar revealed how the Delhi-born cricketer was drafted into the Indian team. Virat Kohli’s Spirit of Cricket Act Won Hearts After Crowd Booed Steve Smith During India vs Australia Match in ICC World Cup 2019.

The former Indian batsman recalled that he was impressed by Kohli’s performance during Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in 2008. The right-handed batsman was designated to bat in the middle order in the tournament. However, he amazed one and all including Vengsarkar by scoring a century against New Zealand while opening the innings. Virat Kohli and Steve Smith Are Dominant All Over the World, Feels Aaron Finch.

"In the first match against New Zealand, they had scored 240-250 and Virat Kohli was asked to open the innings and he scored 123*. What I appreciated was that even after his hundred, he went on to win the game for his team and he remained not out. That really impressed me and there I thought that here is a boy that we must push into the Indian team because he was mentally mature and of course we picked him and the rest is history," Vengsarkar told Sportskeeda in a Live Facebook session.

Vengsarkar also said that the selection committee was looking for the players who would play for India soon and on that basis, Kohli was selected into the team.

"When there was an emerging players’ tournament in Australia, I was the chairman of the selection committee (for the Indian team). We had decided at that point of time that we must pick players who were fringe players or who would play for India very soon, especially the U-23 boys. So we had picked Virat Kohli in the team," the 1983-World Cup winner added.

Kohli got a break in the Indian team during India’s 2008 Tour of Sri Lanka. With Virender Sehwag forced to miss due to an injury from the first game, Kohli made his ODI debut as an opener. He, however, fell prey to Nuwan Kulasekara after scoring just 12 runs.

Nevertheless, the right-handed batsman got a chance to bat in the middle order and the rest his history. As per the latest ICC batting rankings, Kohli is placed at the top in ODIs, 2nd in Test matches and 10th in T20Is. With being just 31, it will be interesting to see how many more feathers the Indian skipper will add to his already illustrious hat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2020 01:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).