Kohli was included in India’s team due to his consistent performance 2011 world cup Squad. He was just 22 years old when he was selected in the MS Dhoni-led team for the mega tournament.
Playing and sharing the dressing room with legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Dhoni helped Kohli learn the nuances of becoming a mature cricketer.
He was learning the art of batting under pressure, scoring in crucial moments and accelerating the scoring rate. His on-field interactions with Dhoni, while setting the field or picking the bowler, saw him grow into a leader. He was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012.
Indian cricket Player of the 2011 World Cup tournament legend Yuvraj Singh feels Virat’s growth has been ‘huge’.
When asked about Virat’s transformation since the 2011 World Cup campaign, Yuvraj said – “Very big difference (since 2011). Virat showed some great promise when he came on board. He grabbed him as soon as he got the opportunity. That’s how he took a spot in the World Cup (the squad), because he was very young at that time. And it was between him and Rohit. At that time, Virat was scoring runs. That’s why Virat got the spot And compared to now, there is a complete change in that,” Yuvraj told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.
Over the years, Virat became a run machine. While his captaincy skills have been questioned time and again by some, his prowess as a batsman cannot be denied.
Kohli, who has 12169 ODI runs, is the second Indian to score the all-time highest ODI run-scorer after Sachin Tendulkar (18426 runs) and sixth overall.
Carrying the tag of ‘Chase Master’ for carefully planned and executed run chases, Virat is currently the second highest ODI century scorer in the all-time list. He already has 43 ODI hundreds and sits just behind Tendulkar, who has a record 49 ODI tons.
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“I’ve seen him grow and train before me. He was probably the hardest worker, very disciplined with his diet, very disciplined with his training. When he was scoring runs, you could see he was someone who Wants to become the best player in the world. He had that kind of attitude. He’s got that swag,” Yuvraj added.
“He was scoring a lot of runs and then he became the captain. Sometimes you get stuck, but when he became the captain, his consistency got even better. At around 30, he had achieved a lot. The former India all-rounder, who played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs and 58 T20Is for India, scored over 11,000 international runs and took 148 wickets, told TimesofIndia.com.
Yuvraj said, “People become legends when they retire. At the age of 30, he (Virat) had already become a legend. It was really great to see him grow as a cricketer. . Hopefully he ends up on a high. Because he has a lot of time.” signed off.
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