Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was born on November 5, 1988, in New Delhi, into a Punjabi Hindu family rooted in the modest locality of Uttam Nagar. He is the youngest of three children — his elder brother Vikas and elder sister Bhawna forming the quiet support structure that would hold him through the storms ahead. His mother, Saroj Kohli, a homemaker, was the emotional anchor of the household, while his father, Prem Kohli, a criminal lawyer, was his earliest and most passionate champion. It was Prem who first recognised the fire in his youngest child's eyes, and in 1998, enrolled the nine-year-old Virat at the West Delhi Cricket Academy, where coach Rajkumar Sharma immediately saw something rare in the boy. The Kohli family was not wealthy, but Prem never let his son miss a single practice session, driving him to the academy through the biting Delhi winters. Tragically, Prem Kohli passed away from a stroke in December 2006 while Virat was mid-match in a Ranji Trophy game for Delhi. In an act of extraordinary character, Kohli performed his father's last rites and returned the very next day to score 90 runs for his team against Karnataka — a moment that revealed, in plain sight, the mental steel that would define everything that followed.

His rise through the domestic ranks was swift and purposeful. In 2008, Kohli captained India to the ICC Under-19 World Cup title in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — a performance that immediately earned him an IPL contract with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and a call-up to the senior national squad. He made his ODI debut for India in August 2008 against Sri Lanka. The early years were a period of learning and adjustment, but Kohli accelerated rapidly. His first ODI century arrived in 2009, and by the 2011 ODI World Cup, he was already a figure of national importance — playing a key role in the final and stitching a crucial partnership with Gautam Gambhir to help India lift the trophy. He then broke into the Test side on the 2011–12 Australia tour, scoring India's only century of that series in Adelaide. A right-handed batter of exceptional technical soundness and fierce temperament, Kohli became renowned not just for scoring runs but for the conditions under which he scored them — chasing totals, under pressure, in foreign lands. He was also widely credited with transforming the culture of fitness in Indian cricket, championing higher physical standards that reshaped the team's identity for years to come.

As Test captain — a role he assumed in 2014 — Kohli led India to No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings and kept them there for five consecutive years. He guided India to a historic first-ever Test series victory in Australia, won 40 out of 68 Tests as skipper, and is India’s most successful Test captain by number of victories. He achieved 900-plus ICC rating points in multiple formats during his career. Away from the field, Kohli's personal life became one of the most followed stories in Indian public life. He married Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma on December 11, 2017, in an intimate ceremony in Tuscany, Italy. The couple have two children — a daughter, Vamika, born in January 2021, and a son, Akaay, born in February 2024. In the IPL, Kohli remained exclusively and loyally with Royal Challengers Bengaluru from the tournament's very first season in 2008. As of the 2025 IPL season, he is the all-time leading run-scorer in IPL history with 8,661 runs in 267 matches and holds the record for the most runs in a single IPL season — 973 in 2016. In 2025, after 18 years of effort, he finally lifted his first IPL trophy when RCB won the title, a moment that moved an entire nation. His awards from the BCCI and Government of India include the Arjuna Award (2013), the Padma Shri (2017), and the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (2018), India's highest sporting honour.

The final years of Kohli's international career were studded with defining moments. At the 2023 ODI World Cup, he scored three centuries, surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's record to become the first batter to score 50 ODI hundreds, set the record for most runs in a single World Cup edition with 765 runs, and was named Player of the Tournament. At the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup final against South Africa, he scored a match-winning 76 and was named Player of the Match — after which he announced his retirement from T20 international cricket. At the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, Kohli played key innings against Pakistan and Australia as India went on to win the title. He also won the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2023 — and won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2017 and 2018. In May 2025, Kohli retired from Test cricket with 30 Test centuries and more than 9,000 Test runs during his career, drawing the curtain on one of the most decorated careers in the history of the game. The boy from Uttam Nagar who once asked his father to bowl to him at age three had, by the force of discipline and desire, become the standard by which modern batsmanship is measured — a legacy that will shape world cricket for generations to come.
 

Frequently Asked Questions About Virat Kohli

Q: What is Virat Kohli's net worth?

A: As of 2026, Virat Kohli's estimated net worth is reported to be around ₹1,000–1,050 crore (approximately US$110–117 million), according to multiple media reports.

Q: What is Virat Kohli's son's name?

A: Virat Kohli's son's name is Akaay, born on February 15, 2024. 

Q: What is Virat Kohli's shirt number?

A: Virat Kohli wears jersey number 18, which he has kept for over 14 years of his international career.

Q: What cricket bat does Virat Kohli use?

A: Virat Kohli has used MRF-branded bats for much of his international career, including the MRF Genius Grand Edition.

Q: What is the bat weight of Virat Kohli?

A: Virat Kohli's bat weighs between 1.1 kg and 1.23 kg, with most of the weight concentrated in the lower part of the blade. 

Q: What are Virat Kohli's total centuries?

A: Virat Kohli has 85 international centuries across all formats — 54 in ODIs, 30 in Tests, and 1 in T20Is. 

Q: How many Test match centuries does Virat Kohli have?

A: Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket in May 2025 with 29 Test centuries and 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85.

Q: Did Virat Kohli have a hair transplant?

A: Virat Kohli has never publicly confirmed getting a hair transplant — it remains unverified speculation with no official statement from him or his team.