Former Indian national selector Dilip Vengsarkar has revealed how the current skipper Virat Kohli received national team call-up.
Kohli had already impressed with his skills when he took the Under-19 team to glory in the 2008 World Cup. However, national call-up was still far away and Kohli had to do more to catch the eyes of the selectors.
Subsequently, Kohli was able to impress the national selectors when he scored an unbeaten knock of 123 while playing for India A in the Emerging Players Tournament against New Zealand A. The tournament was hosted by Australia and Kohli was able to deliver the goods.
The Kiwis had set up a target of 240-250 and Kohli had opened the innings in that match. Vengsarkar was impressed as Kohli not only scored a hundred but also remained undefeated to take his team over the line.
Thus, the prodigy right-hander was able to finish the match and he got a chance to break into the national side.
“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.
Subsequently, Kohli got a chance to play for the national team and made his debut against Sri Lanka. However, Kohli didn’t have a great start to his ODI career as he scored 12 runs in his maiden innings. The Delhi batsman scored 159 runs in his debut series in the five matches at an average of 31.80.
However, Kohli was able to turn the tide and kept coming with consistent performances one after the other. The talisman has not looked back since and he is now the best ODI batsman in the world. Kohli has come a long way in his career as he has scored 11867 runs in 248 ODIs at an impressive average of 59.33.
Kohli was able to grab his chances and batted at the top of his game to seal his position in the side. The right-hander took giant strides in his career and he is now the best in the business. The linchpin is the most consistent batsman in the world and he has scored 43 ODI centuries in his illustrious career.
