Since the day Virat Kohli stepped foot on a cricket ground, the entire complexion of Indian cricket has changed. A ruthless, merciless and aggressive batsman has set fear in the hearts of the bowlers and now he has smashed nearly all records as a batsman and as a captain. Since day one, there has been no doubt that Kohli would be the perfect successor to MS Dhoni after 'captain cool' announced his retirement on January 4, 2017.
The list of accolades in Kohli's shelf is innumerable and will be adding many more in time to come. Kohli has led India across all formats and has done justice to the role of the skipper.
A flamboyant yet humble captain has always placed his team before himself and time and time again we have witnessed the growth of Virat Kohli. The Delhiite has seen legends come and go, witnesses budding talents but still works along for the betterment of the team.
With MS Dhoni by his side in limited overs cricket, the captain has learnt how to make decisions in a calm and composed manner. Kohli has placed his faith in the team and provides enough freedom to the players to go about their game.
2017 has seen Kohli at his very best as the aggressive batsman has smashed records at home and away and recently helped India win their first bilateral ODI series on South Africa soil. The era of Kohli began the day he helped India win the U-19 World Cup in 2008 and since then, Kohli is the man that all the bowlers fear.
34 tons in One Day Internationals, 21 centuries in Test cricket. At the current moment, there is no slowing Virat Kohli down.
Here are a few interesting facts about Team India skipper Virat Kohli that you may not have known
1. Kohli has scored over 300 runs in a bilateral One Day International series on six different occasions. No other player has done it more than four times.
2. Kohli became the fastest player to reach 9,000 runs and he achieved the feat in 194 innings. Kohli overtook AB de Villiers who reached the mark in 205 innings.
3. In 2016, Kohli was the only batsman in history to have an average of over 50 in all the three formats (Test, ODI and T20I).
4. Kohli also became the only captain to score the most ODI runs in a year. The right-handed batsman scored 1460 runs in 2017 and surpassed former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting's 1424 runs in 2007.
5. Kohli became the fastest batsman to reach 1000 runs in T20 Internationals and achieved the mark in 27 innings, five knocks less than Kevin Pieterson.
6. Kohli became the first batsman to score three double tons in two consecutive years in Test cricket.
7. Kohli became the first captain in One Day Internationals to smash six ODI tons in a calender year.
8. Kohli has now scored six double hundred tons, the most by any captain. Kohli overtook Brian Lara's record of five double centuries.
9. Kohli holds the most number of ODI tons as Indian captain (13), surpassing Sourav Ganguly's 11.
10. Kohli is the second batsman with the highest number of ODI tons (34) after Sachin Tendulkar's 49.
