Virat Kohli 'grateful' for 15 years in cricket

Indian star batter Virat Kohli Friday completed his 15 years in international cricket with several ups and down in his extraordinary career trajectory.

The former India captain's status as an all-time great in the sport remains accredited to his humble beginnings, as the cricketer — who hails from Delhi and known for his talent with the bat — began playing professional cricket during his teens and became a young U-19 winning captain.

Kohli, who is now looking to enter the 16th year of his career eyeing a second ODI World Cup triumph, played his first-ever match on the international stage against Sri Lanka on Dambulla on August 18, 2008.

Taking to his official account on X, previously Twitter, the 34-year-old shared his feelings on completing 15 years in cricket.

"Forever grateful," he wrote.

While playing as an opener, Kohli could only score 12 runs in his opening game. But who knew, the right-handed batter will go on to become World's greatest batsman in modern-day cricket.

So far, Kohli has played 275 ODIs for India, scoring 12898 runs at an average of 57.32 including 46 hundreds and 65 fifties.

He cemented his name as one of the prolific finishers for Team India in the 50-over format. He has the most number of 100s when India chased down 300+ runs in ODIs.

He also has second-most number of 100s across formats with a tally of 76. He is just behind Sachin Tendulkar who had scored 100 centuries across formats.

Kohli left India's captaincy after their dismal run in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. He decided to play as a specialist batter and will represent India in this year's Asia Cup and World Cup.

Asia Cup will be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30 to September 17 whereas World Cup is scheduled to take place in India from October 5 to November 19.