page_title: Virat Kohli
section_title: Ascension to ODI vice-captaincy
hierarchical_section_title: Virat Kohli / International career / Ascension to ODI vice-captaincy
caption_attribution_description: IMG_2257
context_page_description: Virat Kohli is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the India national team. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, and has been the team's captain since 2013. Since October 2017, he has been the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world and is currently 2nd in Test rankings with 886 points. Among Indian batsmen, Kohli has the best ever Test rating, ODI rating and T20I rating.
  Kohli captained India Under-19s to victory at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. After a few months later, he made his ODI debut for India against Sri Lanka at the age of 19. Initially having played as a reserve batsman in the Indian team, he soon established himself as a regular in the ODI middle-order and was part of the squad that won the 2011 World Cup. He made his Test debut in 2011 and shrugged off the tag of "ODI specialist" by 2013 with Test hundreds in Australia and South Africa.
context_section_description: Having found a place in India's Test squad for the tour of Australia in December 2011, Kohli top-scored with 132 in a tour match against Cricket Australia Chairman's XI to strengthen his case for a spot in the playing eleven ahead of Rohit Sharma. Batting at number 6, Kohli failed to go past 25 in the first two Tests, as his defensive technique was exposed. While fielding on the boundary during the second day of the second match, he gestured to the crowd with his middle finger for which he was fined 50% of his match fee by the match referee. He top-scored in each of India's innings in the third Test at Perth, with 44 and 75, even as India surrendered to their second consecutive innings defeat. In the fourth and final match at Adelaide, Kohli scored his maiden Test century of 116 runs in the first innings; it was the only century scored by an Indian in the series. India suffered a 0–4 whitewash and Kohli, India's top run-scorer in the series, was described as "the lone bright spot in an otherwise nightmare visit for the tourists".
  In the first seven matches of the Commonwealth Bank triangular series against hosts Australia and Sri Lanka, Kohli made two fifties–77 at Perth and 66 at Brisbane–both against Sri Lanka. India registered two wins, a tie and four losses in these seven matches, which meant that they needed a bonus point win their last group match against Sri Lanka at Hobart, to stay in contention for qualifying for the finals series. Being set a target of 321 by Sri Lanka, Kohli came to the crease with India's score at 86/2 and went on to score 133 not out from 86 balls to take India to a comfortable win with 13 overs to spare. India earned a bonus point with the win and Kohli was named Man of the Match for his knock, which included scoring 24 runs in an over by Lasith Malinga. Former Australian cricketer and commentator Dean Jones rated Kohli's innings as "one of the greatest ODI knocks of all time". However, Sri Lanka beat Australia three days later in their last group fixture and knocked India out of the series. With 373 runs at 53.28, Kohli once again finished as India's highest run-scorer and lone centurion of the series.
  Kohli was appointed the vice-captain for the 2012 Asia Cup in Bangladesh on the back of his fine performance in Australia. Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of selectors, told reporters, "Hats off to Virat Kohli for the way he played. We have to start looking towards the future. The selection committee and the Board felt Kohli is future captaincy material." Kohli was in fine form during the tournament, finishing as the leading run-scorer with 357 runs at an average of 119. He scored 108 in the opening match against Sri Lanka in a 50-run Indian victory, while India lost their next match to Bangladesh in which he made 66. In the final group stage match against Pakistan, he scored a personal best 183 off 148 balls, his 11th ODI century. Coming in at 0/1, he struck 22 fours and a six in his innings to help India to chase down 330, their highest successful ODI run-chase at the time. His knock was the highest individual score in Asia Cup history, the joint-second highest score in an ODI run-chase and the highest individual score against Pakistan in ODIs surpassing previous record of 156 by Brian Lara. Kohli was awarded the man of the match in both matches that India won, but India could not progress to the final of the tournament.
  In July–August 2012, Kohli struck two centuries in the five-match ODI tour of Sri Lanka–106 off 113 balls at Hambantota and 128* off 119 balls at Colombo–winning man of the match in both games. India won the series 4–1 and on account of scoring the most runs in the series, Kohli was named player of the series. In the one-off T20I that followed, he scored a 48-ball 68, his first T20I fifty, and won the player of the series award. Kohli scored his second Test century at Bangalore during New Zealand's tour of India and won his first man of the match award in Test cricket. India won the two-match series 2–0, and Kohli averaged 106 with one hundred and two fifties from three innin
caption: Kohli fielding during a CB Series match against Australia in February 2012
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