Kohli turns 30 on November 5, 2018.
India cricket captain Virat Kohli, currently regarded as the world's best batsman in all three formats, is celebrating his 30th birthday on Monday (November 5). The phenomenal run-machine, who is now the game's biggest entertainer by quite a few yards, is enjoying the best time of his life, both personally and professionally. Last year, Kohli got married to Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and earlier in September, he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
On his 30th birthday here are the 30 interesting facts of ‘Run Machine’ Kohli you might not know.
1. The Delhi born is fondly called ‘Cheeku’ by his teammates, the name was given by his coach Ajit Chaudhary of early cricketing days. He named him on the character in a comic book ‘Champak’.
2. The first time when Kohli got inked he didn’t ask or tell his coach at that time.
3. In his early cricketing days, the No 1-ranked ODI batsman idolised Herschelle Gibbs.
4. Virat Kohli got his first Man of the Match award from Gautam Gambhir, which was actually given to the left-handed opener. Gambhir shared his Man of the Match prize with young Kohli, who scored his maiden century in that match against Sri Lanka.
5. In 2008, Kohli led the Indian team to the Under 19 World Cup title.
6. The 30-year old is the only player to represent the same IPL team (Royal Challengers Bangalore) for 11 consecutive years.
7. ‘Run Machine’ Kohli is the fastest player to reach 10,000 run mark in One Day Internationals.
8. After Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the current Indian skipper became third cricketer to win Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
9. King Kohli also owns an Indian Super League franchise FC Goa.
10. He is the most expensive player in Indian Premier League history as he bagged the new contract of 17 Crore in 2018 edition of the tournament.
11. He is the only player to score four centuries in a single season of IPL.
12. Along with Sachin and Virender Sehwag, the 30-year old has the most double hundreds (6) in Test cricket for the Indian team.
13. Kohli holds the record of fastest ODI century in ODI cricket by an Indian batsman.
14. He also holds the record of fastest 9000 runs in ODI cricket.
15. Virat Kohli is only Indian to score century against Pakistan in a World Cup match.
16. In 2006, he was playing a Ranji match against Karnataka when his father passed away. But he batted on the next day and scored 90 runs.
17. Virat is the only Indian to score three consecutive ODI centuries. He did it against West Indies in a five-match ODI series in 2018.
18. The Indian skipper doesn’t have a T20I century to his name despite many match-winning performances in his career so far.
19. In 2012, Kohli was named one of the 10 Best Dressed International Men in a list that included then US President Barack Obama.
20. In June 2018, Kohli became the only sportsperson from India to be featured in the list compiled by Forbes. He was ranked 83rd with earnings of USD 24 million.
21. Virat Kohli is the only batsman to score century in World Cup debut match. He scored an unbeaten century against Bangladesh in 2011 World Cup.
22. Kohli once revealed that his first crush was Karishma Kapoor. Later in 2017 he married Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma in a secret but grand wedding in Italy.
23. At the age of 23, Kohli was named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2012.
24. In 2017, Kohli became the ICC Cricketer of the Year.
25. He is a very big dog lover and also had some dog shelter homes for street dogs in few cities.
26. Kohli’s highest score in ODI cricket is 183 which he scored against Pakistan in Asia Cup.
27. In September 2013, Virat Kohli was introduced as the Brand Ambassador of the Border Security Force (BSF) in New Delhi.
28. Kohli is the first batsman to cross the 900-run mark in a single IPL edition.
29. In 2017, he got India’ fourth highest Civilian award Padam Shree.
30. In 2013, he received the Arjuna award for his excellence in cricket.
