Virat Kohli's 14 years in international cricket: What happened in his debut ODI?
India's talismanic batter Virat Kohli completed 14 years of international cricket on Thursday (August 18). It is ironic that the date also marks his jersey number 18. Over the last decade, the former Indian skipper has established himself as a bonafide matchwinner across formats.
The records speak for themselves. Kohli amassed 8074 in Tests from 102 matches at an average of 49.53. His ODI record stands at a staggering 12344 runs from 262 matches at an average of 57.86. He has been equally impressive in the T20Is notching up 3308 runs from 99 matches and averaging 50.12.
Despite being widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in modern-day cricket, Virat Kohli's endured a lean patch in recent times, but that doesn't take away the fact that he's still a force in international cricket.
As he now reaches a landmark day in his decorated career, we relive how he fared in his debut ODI.
How did Virat Kohli in his debut ODI?
It wasn't the greatest of starts for Virat Kohli in his maiden ODI debut. India were touring Sri Lanka in 2008 and the Delhi batter walked out to open the innings alongside Gautam Gambhir at Dambulla.
India won the toss and opted to bat first, but ended up losing Gambhir in the very first over. Chaminda Vaas cleaned up the southpaw for a duck and that meant the onus was on Kohli and Suresh Raina to stabilize the innings.
However, it wasn't meant to be as Kohli was castled by Nuwan Kulasekara for a scratchy 22-ball-12. The seamer's inswinger saw the ball rap on his pads as he went for a drive and was found plumb. Needless to say, he was given out and India failed to recover from the early blows as they were bundled out for 146.
Sri Lanka registered a comprehensive eight-wicket win. Mahela Jayawardene (61*) and Chamara Kapugedera (45*) saw the side home after Munaf Patel grabbed two early wickets.
It was a better outing for Kohli in the second ODI as he made a sedate 37 off 67 balls before Thilan Thushara dismissed him by forcing him into a loose shot. The remainder of the series saw him score 25, 54 and 31.
The batter faced a lot of criticism for throwing off starts, and he managed to convert one of them into a half-century in the fourth ODI. While it was a 3-2 overseas win for India, Virat Kohli's first ODI series outing was a mixed bag.