Though these are early days, India can feel they have really found a star and a batsman who can play a sheet-anchor role in limited-over cricket in Virat Kohli. The young lad from Delhi has all reasons to be regularly selected in the playing XI as he has defied all odds. He did made statements by his batting and on-field captaincy during the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2008 held in Malaysia, but there were many better than him than. Take for example, Tanmay Srivastava who was the leading run scorer in the tournament but ended just having a contract with IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore and is yet to prove his credentials. Kohli in the U-19 CWC scored the third highest run getter with 235 @ 47.00 and a brilliant strike rate of 94.75. He got a match-winning 74 ball 100 against the Windies-who did had an upper hand in the tournament. And after all he ended being the winning captain and took the honors of one of the promising future stars. Quoting to this reference was George Binoy of Cricinfo,

“The word aggressive sums up Virat Kohli, the India U-19 captain, succinctly. He's an attacking batsman who looks to get on top of the bowlers and his attitude on the field is that of a person with authority. He played the innings of the tournament against West Indies -100 off 74 balls, the second 50 came off 24 - and scored 237 runs at a strike-rate of 97. He and Srivastava formed the crux of India's batting line-up; Virat's aggression complemented Srivastava's composure. The stand-out feature of his batting was his strength while hitting through the covers, and his preferred zone of attack was lofting the bowlers over the extra-cover boundary. As a captain he also made astute bowling changes, including bringing himself on in the semi-final against New Zealand.”

Now, forget the U-19 stuff and back to International cricket. Kohli made his International debut on August 18, 2008 against Sri Lanka. He had a patchy start to his career and after his first spell he had played 5 innings in 5 matches scoring 159 runs with 1 fifty at an average of 31.80 and a strike rate of 66.52. He in these five games opened on all occasions.

Then, he made a comeback after a year in September 2009 while the Champions Trophy 2009. In the first three games played he took part in 2 innings scoring 18 runs at 18.00 and  a strike rate of 69.23. He played the 4th and 7th positions in the 2 innings respectively.

The turning factor was just waiting and it came in the fourth game of the CT 2009 against West Indies. Though, Windies was a depleted side then, he scored an unbeaten match winning 79*.  Coming at 2-12, he scored a fluent 79 off 104 that including 9 sweet boundaries and 2 smashing sixes. Why I consider it as a turning point is because he looked as fluent as anyone could have had and he showed his array of shots!

Moreover, the stats too dictate this fact of the 79* being the turning point. Here’s how:

 Until his 79* against Windies on 30 September 2009, he had scored 177 runs in 7 innings off 8 matches played at an average of 29.50 and a strike rate of 66.79 with 1 fifty, 22 fours and 6 sixes.

But, after his 79*, i.e. from 1st October 2009, he scored 501 runs in 9 innings off 10 matches played at an average of 71.57 and a strike rate of 94.17 with 3 fifties and two 100s that included 1 six and 54 boundaries.

 Including all he has played 17 innings in 19 games and has scored 757 runs at 58.23 with an overall strike-rate of 84.01 with 5 fifties and two 100s.

ALL FOR THE STATS:

AVERAGE FACTOR

If we consider a qualification of at least 500 career runs, Virat Kohli averages second best in  history after Dutch’s Ryan ten Doeschate. ten Doeschate has an average of 64.12 with 1026 runs and 23 innings. Virat is next on the list with an average of 58.23. For his company in the top 5 is MSD, the Indian-skipper on 5th with a career average of 51.48!!

ICC RANKINGS

On 30th September in the ICC’s batsman rankings, Kohli for the first time was listed on the  top 100 cricket batsman with a position of 70 and rating points of 471. Then, on 15th December he was standing 75th and on December 22nd he was on 71. But, after his hundred on 24th dec against Sri Lanka, he jumped 22 places to secure a place in top 50 @ 48 with his career best ranking of 538. As of 27 December, he is standing on 47th position. Just after 19 career matches he is one of the most uncapped player in top 50 – as even the inform Sri Lanka's Upul Tharanga stands a place behind him!!! This is not it. Since December 27 he has played some more gems that include - today's century, yesterday's 71* and one 91-odd innings against Bangladesh earlier in the ongoing tri-series. Hence, presumably, by the next ICC rankings’ update, he might feature into the top 40 which is just a fraction less than 20 rating points than what he has right now!!

TON MANIA!

Kohli is the only the third Indian batsman to score more than one hundreds before turning 22 after Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina.

THE THREATS:

ROHIT SHARMA

Rohit Sharma can be potential threat to Kohli’s place in the side. He was the first choice of the selectors but due to consistent poor form he was eventually dropped! A couple of bad games for Kohli can give Sharma a place as he is in great form after his triple-hundred in a Ranji trophy encounter.

ROBIN UTHAPPA

The only other player after Rohit can be Robin. He has not played for India since November 2007 and his domestic performances are also not proving his credentials. But, he is after all the captain of Karnataka’s Ranji side and can be on the mind of the selectors, once he gets a couple of good knocks under his belt.

THE WALL FACTOR:

Though Virat has no official nicknames, I’d love to nickname him as ‘The Wall – Under Construction’! He has all attributes of a very good middle order player. For stats, he averages 94.33 at number 3 in five innings and 71.50 at number 4 in five innings.

While he plays his shots – the cover drive, the mid-wicket flick, the leg glance and a lot more, he reminds of ‘The Wall’ – Rahul Dravid. His stance also makes me feel the same. If he plays the way he has on number 3 and number 4 – India’s definitely lucky!!

 Kohli has been a sensation, especially this year, scoring the most – 273 runs. But, he has to maintain his potential and keep the spirits high. He should not loose the way as Rohit Sharma or Robin Uthappa did. By the way, Kudos matey!