Kohli was instrumental in India's win of the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. In the final against South Africa, Kohli scored a century and India went on to win the game by 17 runs.
Kohli was named vice-captain of the ODI side for the tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe in June 2010 as all the other first-choice players skipped the tournament.
In the same series, he became the fastest Indian to score 1,000 runs in ODI cricket.