Virat Kohli Wiki Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Personal & Professional Life, Career and More

Virat Kohli Wiki Biography:- Virat Kohli is one of the most popular Indian International Cricketers and an Ex-Captain of the Indian Cricket team across all formats of the game. Kohli is called one of the greatest batsmen & cricketers to ever step on the ground. He is such an exceptional player & regarded as GOAT(Greatest Of All Time) that he was the first & the only batsman in the world cricket to once have an average of 50+ in all three formats(Test, ODIs & T20I) of international cricket. He was born in Delhi, India & currently living in Mumbai.

Virat Kohli has been interested in cricket since his childhood & always been passionate about the game. His dad took him to cricket coach  Rajkumar Sharma when Virat was 9 years old & made him join West Delhi Cricket Academy in 1998 for professional coaching. After getting rejected from Delhi’s Under-14 team, Kohli was selected for Delhi’s Under-15 team in the year 2002 and was also part of Delhi’s Under-17 team.

His initial breakout year came in 2006 when he was selected for India’s Under-19 team for the England tour & made his first-class debut for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy in the same year. Kohli was made captain to lead India’s Under-19 team in the 2008 ICC Under-19 World Cup which he eventually won as a captain & earned limelight for winning an ICC tournament. After a successful World Cup, Virat was given the chance to make his ODI debut in 2008 against the Sri Lanka team. In 2010, He was then given a chance to make his T20I debut against Zimbabwe. As far as his Test debut is concerned, it took him 3 years since his ODI debut to finally get a call-up for the Test team, then in 2011, Virat made his Test debut against the West Indies team at Kingston.

Virat Kohli has also been the face of IPL alongside MS Dhoni. He plays in IPL for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a Bangalore-based IPL franchise team, and has been part of the RCB squad since 2008. He is the only player in the IPL to play for the same franchise since its inception. It was RCB owner Vijay Mallya who first bought Kohli under a youth contract for a sum of $30,000. In the 2011 IPL season, Virat was the only player retained by the RCB team & all other players were released. Then he was made the Vice-Captain of the team and then the captain in 2013.

Virat Kohli is the top-ranked Cricketer in the World and is also listed as the Most Influential person on Social Media with more than 268 Million followers on Instagram. He also has more than 63 Million followers on Twitter & around 51 Million followers on Facebook. He is also one of the top-earning sportspersons and ranked 25^th on the Global list according to Visual Capitalist.

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Kohli’s Career In Brief

Initial Phase:-

• Virat has been a cricket enthusiast since his childhood & his talent was noticed by his neighbours who asked his father to take him to a professional cricket club. After that, his father took him to the academy & he became the first player to join West Delhi Cricket Academy in 1998.
• Virat was introduced to his coach Rajkumar Sharma in WDCA & initially started playing cricket under his guidance. During the same time, he also used to play cricket simultaneously for Sumeet Dogra Academy in East Delhi.
• He got his first breakthrough when he got the chance to play for the Delhi Under-15 team in the 2002-03 Polly Umrigar Trophy after getting rejected from Delhi’s Under-14 team. He was also the captain for the Delhi team in the season 2003-04 in the Polly Umrigar Trophy.
• After that, Kohli gave trials for the Under-17 team & was selected to make his debut in the 2003-04 Vijay Merchant Trophy for Delhi’s Under-17 team & coming out as the highest run-scorer in the tournament.
• Kohli was selected in the first Playing XI to mark his List-A debut in February 2006 for Delhi but he didn’t bat.
• It was in 2006 that he got his first breakthrough when he got selected for India’s Under-19 squad. Kohli batted brilliantly in the whole series & scored at an average of 105 in ODIs & whereas an average of 49 in Tests in the series against the England Under-19 team.
• Kohli made his first-class debut for the Delhi Ranji Team in a Ranji Trophy match against the Tamilnadu Ranji Team. This was the tournament that made headlines for Kohli as he batted even after getting to know about his father’s demise to fulfill his father’s dream and scored 90 runs in a match against Karnataka in 2006.
• Kohli was selected to represent India’s Under-19 team as a captain for the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. Indian Under-19 team won that tournament under the leadership of Virat Kohli.

International Phase:-

• Virat got his first ODI call-up for the senior national team in 2008 & subsequently made his debut against the Sri Lankan Team on 18th August 2008.
• He was selected in the Indian squad for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.
• After 2 years of his ODI debut, Kohli made his T20 debut in 2010 playing his debut T20I match against Zimbabwe on 12th June 2010.
• He was also selected in India’s squad for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and made his World Cup debut in style scoring an unbeaten 100 runs against Bangladesh. He also played a crucial role in India’s triumph in winning the ICC Cricket World Cup by stitching 83 runs in partnership with Gautam Gambhir & scoring 35 runs in the finals.
• After a good world from a batting perspective, Kohli was given a chance to donn Test Match Kit in 2011 & made his Test debut against West Indies on 20th June 2011 but was able to score only 4 & 15 in both innings.
• After getting recognition & scoring runs in ODI cricket, he was made the Vice-Captain of the ODI team in the 2012 Asia Cup.
• Kohli also played a crucial knock in the finals of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy making India win by defeating England in the Finals.
• He was appointed as the Vice-Captain for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 & was awarded Man of the tournament for his brilliant batting display. India eventually lost to Sri Lanka in the finals.
• Virat Kohli was appointed as the full-time Indian Test Team Captain during the tour of Australia in 2014 when Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the Fourth test in the middle of the test series.
• Kohli was selected as Vice-Captain in the 2015 ICC World Cup and India lost to Australia in the Semifinals. He made a World Cup century against Pakistan by scoring 107 runs in India’s opening match.
• Kohli also represented India’s team in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and was again awarded the Man of The Tournament Award for the 2^nd consecutive time in a T20 World Cup after 2014.
• Kohli for the first time captained the Indian Team in an ICC tournament in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and led his team to the finals.
• Virat again represented India in the 2019 ICC World Cup as a captain taking his team to the Semifinals but lost to New Zealand in the Semifinals.
• Then later in 2021, Kohli informed before the start of the T20 World Cup tournament that he would step down from captaincy in T20I after the tournament.
• Kohli’s career then took a dip for almost 2 years from 2020 to 2022 but he roared back in style that can be termed as greatest comeback of all time. He scored an unbeaten 82 against Pakistan in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup helping his team win the match impossible match.
• After that, he top-scored in the T20 World Cup for India, and Asia Cup & even scored the most runs in an ODI World Cup in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup earning a Man of the Tournament award.

IPL Career

• Virat Kohli was signed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a Bangalore-based IPL franchise team in 2008 for a sum of $30,000 but was unable to grab the opportunity as he was only able to score 165 runs in 12 matches. Then in the 2009 season, Virat again managed to score only 246 runs.
• Kohli scored 246 runs in the 2009 edition & 307 runs at a strike rate of 144.81 in the 2010 edition of IPL.
• Before the tournament, the RCB franchise released all the players from the squad except Virat Kohli. He was the only player retained for the 2011 IPL season and was named as Vice-captain of the RCB team & was named the captain in 2013 after Daniel Vettori took retirement.
• Virat Kohli had a tremendous IPL season in 2016, as he broke the record for the highest runs scored in a single tournament by scoring 973 alongside 4 centuries. This record still stands tall & anyone has not even come close to it.
• He was for a sum of $117 Million by the RCB franchise but he left captaincy after the 2021 IPL Season.
• He was awarded the Orange cap for scoring the most runs in the 2024 IPL season.
• Kohli was retained for a whopping sum of Rs 21 Crore by RCB for IPL 2025, the highest amount for an Indian player & overall second highest in IPL after Heinrich Klaasen, who was retained for a sum of 23 Crore by SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Virat Kohli’s Age, Height, Weight

He is 35 years old. Virat’s height is 5 feet 9 inches and he weighs 69 kg. He has Dark Brown colored eyes and his hair is Black in color.

Virat Kohli’s Family

He was born on November 5, 1988, in Delhi City in India but is currently living on the 35th floor of C-Wing in the Omkar 1973 Towers in Worli, Mumbai. His late father’s name was Prem Kohli who used to work as a Criminal Lawyer & fully supported his dream of becoming a cricketer. Virat’s mother’s name is Saroj Kohli who currently lives in Gurgaon and is a housewife.

Kohli has two siblings, an older brother named Vikas, and an older sister named Bhavna. Virat’s father died on 18^th December 2006 due to Cardiac arrest which also describes his jersey number.

Wife/Girlfriend

Virat Kohli is married to an Indian Actress Anushka Sharma. The couple was in a relationship before tying the knot in Florence, Italy. They first started dating back in 2013 and & after all the ups & downs, they finally got married on December 11, 2017. The couple welcomed their first child, a girl named Vamika, born on January 11, 2021. The couple had a baby boy named Akaay on 15 February 2024.

Before Anushka, he had also dated some popular Bollywood actresses like Sanjana Sharma and Tamannaah Bhatia.

Virat Kohli Wiki Biography – Some Interesting and Unknown Facts

• Virat’s jersey number has his father’s demise on 18^th December 2006.
• Virat has the record of Most Wins in Test as captain of India, with 40 wins out of 68 matches and also he has the record of scoring Four Test double-hundreds in four consecutive series
• He has the most number of ODI centuries ever scored(50) surpassing 49 centuries record of Sachin Tendulkar.
• Virat turned Vegiterian in 2018 & adopted a vegetarian diet.
• He believes in superstitions & follows various lucky charms and rituals from donning black wristbands and preferring a particular pair of gloves, to donning white shoes on the cricket field.
• Virat also partnered with Universal Sportsbiz (USPL) to launch the fashion brand WROGN in November 2014.
• He invested in & co-owned the Indian Super League club FC Goa in 2024.
• Kohli expanded his portfolio & invested in the Tennis League, becoming the co-owner of the International Premier Tennis League franchise named, UAE Royals in September 2015.
• Kohli has also partnered with a few fitness ventures like Chisel India, and Stepathlon Lifestyle.
• He also launched his own athletic lifestyle brand, One8 in partnership with the German sportswear brand, Puma in 2017.
• He also established the Virat Kohli Foundation in 2013 to help & support underprivileged children
• Kohli was listed in the list of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2018.
• He has won numerous awards from the junior level to the international level some of them are(Source: Wikipedia)
  • Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Decade): 2011–2020
  • Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2017, 2018
  • ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade: 2011–2020
  • ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2012, 2017, 2018, 2023
  • ICC Test Player of the Year: 2018
  • ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2012, 2014, 2016 (captain), 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain), 2019 (captain), 2023
  • ICC Test Team of the Year: 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain), 2019 (Captain)
  • ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year: 2022
  • ICC Spirit of Cricket: 2019
  • ICC Men’s Test Team of the Decade: 2011–2020 (Captain)
  • ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
  • ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
  • Polly Umrigar Award for International Cricketer of the Year: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
  • Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2016, 2017, 2018
  • ICC Men’s Player of the Month: October 2022
  • CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2017– 18, 2018–19
  • Indian Premier League Orange Cap for most runs: 2016
  • Barmy Army – International Player of the Year: 2017, 2018
  • ESPNcricinfo – ODI Batting Performance of the Year: 2012
• He has also been awarded by various magazines & award shows. Some of Virat’s awards are(Source: Wikipedia)
  • People’s Choice Awards India for Favourite Sportsperson: 2012
  • GQ Sportsman of the Year: 2013
  • CNN-News18 Indian of the Year: 2017
  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India’s Person of the Year: 2019
  • Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) renamed a stand after Kohli at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi.
• Virat Kohli was awarded the National Civilian & Sports Awards of them are(Source: Wikipedia)
  • 2013 – Arjuna Award, second highest sporting honour
  • 2017 – Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award
  • 2018 – Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour.

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Social Media

Virat Kohli’s Salary and Net Worth

He has a total net worth of around INR 1050 Crore. His major sources of earnings are his profession as a cricketer, Brand Endorsements, Partnerships & investments in various leagues & startups.

Virat Kohli Wiki Biography & LifeStyle

Hobbies, Interests, Favourite Things

We all know Virat has conveyed many a time in interviews that his role model as a cricketer is none other than Sachin Tendulkar. So, his favorite batsmen are Sachin Tendulkar and Herschelle Gibbs & his favorite current cricketer is Ben Stokes. He also likes Shane Warne the bowler & is his favorite bowler. Virat’s favorite actors are Robert Downey Jr., Aamir Khan & Johnny Depp. His favorite actresses are Indian Actress Aishwarya Rai and Spanish Actress Penelope Cruz.

His favorite cricket ground to play cricket is the Adelaide Cricket Ground in Australia. He also loves watching Basketball and Kobe Bryant is his favourite Basketball player. As a football fan, Virat’s favorite footballer is Cristiano Ronaldo.

Virat Kohli Wiki Biography:- Life At A Glance

THE CHASER MASTER

Virat Kohli is the face of the game of world cricket. People get to know about cricket nowadays from his name & even ICC uses his face to promote the ICC tournaments. He is currently established as the greatest batsman of all time & also regarded the same by many experts of the game. He is India’s go-to man whenever a pressure situation arises in the game and generally plays at no. 3 and 4 positions. In addition to that, he had done opening in a few matches too. He is the former captain of the Indian Cricket Team in all formats and has played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru(Previously known as Royal Challenger Bangalore) since the inception of IPL in the inaugural season in 2008.

Career Highlights

First Phase:-

• Virat Kohli’s father introduced him to the academy after his neighbor suggested giving professional training to Kohli. He was first introduced to his then-coach Rajkumar Sharma & trained under him. He shifted to Saviour Convent in Paschim Vihar when he was in 9th class to get a better opportunity for the game. After some exceptional performances in the Polly Umrigar Trophy tournament and coming through runs, Kohli was selected for the India Under-19 squad in July 2006. Virat made headlines & came into the limelight for his never-die attitude & passion for the game when he decided to continue playing for his team against Karnataka, after his father died in 2006, and went on to score 90.
• He was given the opportunity to captain the Under-19 Indian team in March 2008 at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, held in Malaysia. Kohli grabbed the opportunity to showcase his captaining skills & went on to become champions after beating South Africa in the finals. His ODI debut didn’t go right as he only managed to score 12 runs in his One-day international debut match, at the age of 19, against Sri Lanka. Virat scored his first ODI century when he scored 107 off 111 balls in December 2009 against Sri Lanka. Kohli played his part in India’s successful World Cup 2011 campaign playing every match. He also scored an unbeaten World Cup debut 100 against Bangladesh thus becoming the first Indian at that time to score a century on a World Cup debut. He also played a crucial knock in an important crunch situation of the match scoring 35, & sharing an 83-run partnership with Gautam Gambhir in the finals. The final touches were presented by none other than the best finisher in the game, Ms Dhoni. He hit a monstrous six to lead India to the World Cup glory after 28 years.

Second Phase:-

• World Cricket was shown the glimpses of future of Cricket when Kohli played a special knock while bashing Malinga for 24 runs in an over in a match of the CWB triangular series, against Sri Lanka in 2012 at Hobart. In that match, Kohli went on to score 133* from 86 balls to take India over the line with a comfortable win with 13 overs to spare. After seeing Kohli’s success in ODI cricket, he was appointed as the vice-captain for the 2012 Asia Cup tournament and scored a personal best 183 off 148 balls in a match against arch-rivals Pakistan. Kohli was also part of the Indian Team that won the ICC Champions Trophy in England in 2013. The impact of Kohli as a batsman was so much in the tournament that he was featured in the ‘Team of the Tournament’. This was the beginning of the dominance of Kohli as a Batsman as he was the man of the Tournament in both the 2014 & 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournaments but India lost both tournaments.
• Every person has a weakness & it was the same in the case of Virat Kohli as his technique was exposed by England’s fast bowler Jimmy Anderson and Kohli saw the worst phase of his career in the 2014 India tour of England. But the cricket fire within his veins never let him down as he was named as Test captain for the first time in the first Test of the Australian tour in December 2014, and he hit centuries in both innings of the Test. Australia then hosted the World Cup 2015 where Kohli performed average and India lost the Tournament after getting knocked out in the semi-final against Australia (won that WC). Later in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 which India hosted, Kohli played an unbeaten knock of 82 from 51 balls against Australia in India’s must-win group match & took his team over the line, it is being regarded as his finest knock in the T20I format.

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Third Phase:-

• Virat Kohli was made full-time captain in the ODI format & got the chance to captain the Indian Team in an ICC tournament for the first time in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 held in England. India & Pakistan locked horns in the Finals & India lost to arch-rival Pakistan in the finals but Kohli was named in the ‘Team of the Tournament’ at the 2017 Champions Trophy. Coming over the horrors of the last tour of England, Kohli scored his first Test century on English soil on 2 August 2018 in the first test match of the Test series against England. This time Kohli took charge of Jimmy Anderson & didn’t get out by Jimmy Anderson even once in the series.
• Kohli made headlines in Test Captaincy as India won the test series in Australia, which made Kohli the first Indian and Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia in the 2018-2019 Border Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli was appointed as the captain of the Indian team for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Kohli had a great tournament as a batsman scoring five consecutive fifty-plus scores but India lost the semi-final against New Zealand, in which Kohli was dismissed for 1 run. Kohli won the Sir Garfield Sobers Award in November 2020, for being the Male cricketer of the decade and also the ODI cricketer of the decade.

Fourth Phase:- Continued Poor form and removal from captaincy and then the cinematic resurgence

• His last good form with the bat held until 2020. In other words, centuries seemed to elude him but his stats were still formidable. However, Kohli’s hunger played into his desire for success despite his critics questioning his consistency.
• On the one hand, the crowd eluded him due to Covid-19 restrictions. Rhythm impacted his absence since Kohli enjoyed the thrill of playing in a crowd that cheered his performance. He felt that he played in an empty theater with no audience watching.
• After spending time as captain in all forms of cricket, he left the captaincy and was replaced by Rohit Sharma amid lots of controversies in the media.
• India played the Asia Cup 2022 in T20 format. However, India was already out of the tournament after narrowly losing to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India played a dead rubber against Afghanistan in which Kohli made his 71st century after a drought of more than 1000 days.
• India was playing the arch-rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup where India had almost lost the game with 40-4 in 10 overs after being told to chase the score of 160. With Hardik Pandya, he was able to spend a long partnership against the fiery fast bowlers of Pakistan. With 48 runs in 18 balls, Kohli fueled hope for India, and with all the pressure he brought his side to a thrilling victory. India lost the World Cup after a 10-wicket clean defeat to England in the semi-finals but this number is regarded by many as the innings of the tournament and his personal best inning.
• India lost to Australia in the World Test Championship and 50 over the World Cup in 2023 in the finals but Kohli was the player of the tournament in the World Cup after showing brilliant form in almost every match and scoring a monstrous average of 95.62. His legacy remains- a guiding light in the world of cricket and promoting the game worldwide.
• Later in 2024, the Indian team won the T20 World Cup beating South Africa in the Finals under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, making Virat Kohli as a player winning all the major ICC Tournaments(ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Championship Trophy).

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