India's playing XI from Virat Kohli's T20I debut - Where are they now?
Virat Kohli completed 13 years as an Indian T20I cricketer yesterday. He received his maiden T20I cap on June 12, 2010 at the Harare Sports Club. India picked him in their playing XI for the first game of the two-match series against Zimbabwe.
Regular captain MS Dhoni missed that series. Suresh Raina led the team in his absence. Not many fans would know that Virat Kohli made his T20I debut under Raina's captaincy.
Despite resting some of the star players, India crushed Zimbabwe by six wickets with 30 balls to spare in that match. On that note, here's a look at India's playing XI from that game and where those players are now.
Batters - Murali Vijay, Naman Ojha (wk), Suresh Raina (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Yusuf Pathan
India played with six batters in the first T20I of the 2010 series against Zimbabwe. Murali Vijay opened the innings with Naman Ojha, who also made his T20I debut in that game. Both openers lost their wickets in single digits, with Chris Mpofu dismissing them in the powerplay overs.
Captain Suresh Raina played a decent knock of 28 runs from 17 balls, while Rohit Sharma struggled for a 15-ball 10 at number four. Chasing a tricky target of 112, India were down to 48/4 when hard-hitter Yusuf Pathan joined debutant Virat Kohli in the middle.
Pathan and Kohli launched a counter-attack on Zimbabwe, adding 64 runs for the fifth wicket in just 7.2 overs as India won by six wickets. Kohli remained not out on 26 runs off 21 deliveries, hitting three fours and a six, whereas Pathan won the Man of the Match award for his 24-ball 37*, including two fours and three sixes.
Murali Vijay, Naman Ojha, Suresh Raina, and Yusuf Pathan have now retired from international cricket. All four players work as commentators and also participate in T20 leagues.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are active members of Team India in all three formats. Kohli captained India for a long time, and Sharma is the skipper now.
Bowlers - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha, and Vinay Kumar
India played with three spinners and two fast bowlers in the opening T20I of the series against Zimbabwe. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also made his T20I debut in the same game as Virat Kohli. Ashwin bowled a tidy spell of 1/22 on debut.
Vinay Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/24, while Ashok Dinda and Pragyan Ojha took two wickets each. Piyush Chawla bowled a tight spell of 1/14 in four overs as India restricted Zimbabwe to 111/9 in 20 overs.
Dinda, Kumar and Ojha have retired from all formats of international cricket. They participate in T20 leagues and also work as commentators. Besides, Dinda has joined politics, Kumar has tried his luck in coaching, while Ojha is a member of the IPL Governing Council.
Chawla and Ashwin are still active cricketers. Ashwin played for India in T20 World Cup last year. On the other side, Chawla recently made an impressive comeback for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023.