How Much Did Kohli Score In 1st India Game?

August 18, 2008 is a memorable day for Indian cricket!

It was on this day exactly 15 years ago that Virat Kohli, one of the greats of modern day cricket, made his international debut.

A young Kohli, then 19, made his debut against Sri Lanka in an One-Day International in Dambulla.

It was not a memorable debut for Kohli, who opened the innings with Gautam Gambhir. He made just 12 before he was trapped leg before wicket by pace bowler Nuwan Kulasekara as India were bowled out for 146 and went on to lose the match by eight wickets.

Kohli's India debut came a few months after he had led India to the Under-19 World Cup title after beating South Africa in the final in Kuala Lumpur on March 2, 2008.

Interestingly, while Kohli opened the innings in all five matches of the ODIs in Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma batted in the middle order at No 5 or No 6.

Kohli registered his maiden international fifty in the fourth match of the series, hitting 54, as India won the match by 46 runs to seal the five-match series 3-2.

His first international century also came against Sri Lanka a year later, when batting at No 4, he hit 107 while Gautam Gambhir stroked an unbeaten 150 to help India chase down a huge 316 for victory in an ODI at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on December 24, 2009.

Kohli has since going on to establish himself as one of the best batters in white ball cricket. He has scored 12,898 runs in 275 ODIs, at an average of 53, with 46 centuries and 65 fifties. He is the second highest run-getter for India in ODIs behind the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who ended his career with 18426 runs in 463 one-day games.
Overall, Kohli is fifth in the list behind Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Kohli holds several records in 50-overs cricket including the fastest to reach the landmarks of 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000, and 12,000 ODI runs. He was part of the team which won the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

In 115 T20 Internationals, Kohli though not an all-out attacking batter, but still boasts of a good record of 4,008 runs at an average of 52, with a century and 37 fifties.

He may not have been his usual consistent self in Test cricket in the last couple of years, but still ranks among the top batters of this generation with tally of 8,676 runs in 111 Tests, at an average of 49.

Kohli is fifth in the world in terms of overall tally of runs in international cricket with 25,582 runs in 501 games across the three formats. The list is led by Tendulkar (34,357 runs in 664 matches), followed by Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs in 594 matches), Ricky Ponting (27,483 runs in 560 matches) and Mahela Jayawardene (25m957 runs in 652 matches).

Kohli's Record In International Cricket