5 Innings which helped Kohli become chase master
Virat Kohli, without any shadow of a doubt, has etched his name in the hall of batting pantheons of limited overs. He is unquestionably the greatest modern-day limited-overs batsman and is also well on his way in becoming one of the greatest batsmen the sport has ever seen.
He has the water-tight defence to complement his risk aversing shots, which comes at a more than acceptable strike rate without any dip in his averages. While this level of consistency and ever-increasing level of domination has become a constant sight in the last couple of seasons, it took him years of unrelenting practice day in and day out to emerge out as a perfect batsman that we see today.
The complete batsman we see today, was not without flaws and imperfections when he burst onto the scene as a feisty plump teenager. He had just captained a team of naive but resolute teenagers to a U-19 World Cup triumph in Malaysia in 2008. It was India's only second title and first in 8 years, but it seemed to have made more noise than even the CB series finals of 2008 that India handsomely won 2-0 in the best of 3 finals.
Virat Kohli was not the best batsman in that tournament by a fair distance, but he was a leader par excellence while leading his team into the finals bringing the trophy home. He was fast-tracked to the national side as his name started doing the rounds. It was a pretty disappointing series with the bat, he scored only one fifty with bat playing in all 5 ODI matches.
This opportunity, coming at the cost of the injured duo of Tendulkar and Sehwag, meant that any further chances at playing for the country would be fewer and farther in between. This did not deter the then-teenager. He diligently worked hard at his batting in the domestic circuit to make a return in 2009 and never to look back ever since.
So, here is a look those five matches that made him the ODI chasing colossal that he is today and how it shaped him in becoming a modern-day batting great :