Indian captain Virat Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world. No wonder he is a household name across the globe. Kohli’s enthusiasm on the field and passion of being consistent in all departments of the game makes him remarkable in modern-day cricket.
Kohli is the leading run-getter (21,901) amongst the current slot of active players in international cricket. Last year, the Delhi-born made a world record of scoring most international runs in a decade. The right-hander amassed 20,688 runs in the past decade (2010-2019), which is the highest by any batter in the history of cricket. The 31-year-old broke Ricky Ponting’s record, who scored 20,546 during the 2000-2009 time period.
The fact which makes Kohli a unique player is his mental toughness but was he like this even in his early days? Well, former Indian chief selector, Dilip Vengsarkar has the answer. Recently, Vengsarkar gave an interview to Sportskeeda where he has revealed some interesting things about the current skipper of the Indian cricket team.
Vengsarkar came up with a revelation of how Kohli impressed him during the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in 2008. The former Mumbai batsman was the Chairman of selectors during that tournament, so he decided to pick Kohli who went on to play for the senior national team soon.
“When there was an emerging players’ tournament in Australia, I was the chairman of the selection committee. We had decided at that point of time that we must pick players who were fringe players or who would play for India very soon, especially the U-23 boys. So we had picked Virat Kohli in the team,” said Vengsarkar.
Vengsarkar recalled Kohli’s magnificent ton against New Zealand and said what he really liked about Kohli is that even in his young days he remained not out and won the game for his 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,” the 64-year-old added.
“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,” concluded Vengsarkar.
