Virat Kohli's 'unique' ability in 2008 disclosed by then chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar

Former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar was chief selector of national side when Virat Kohli made his international debut in 2008. Vengsarkar was recently involved in a live chat with Sportskeeda where he revealed what prompted him to induct Virat Kohli into Indian team at time. While current Indian captain made his debut in 2008 as an aggressive youngster, cricketer is w widely tipped as Sachin Tendulkar’s “successor” by many fans and cricket experts.

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Dilip Vengsarkar recalls impressive quality of young Virat Kohli

In live chat, Dilip Vengsarkar stated that he was highly impressed by Virat Kohli’s performance in four-nation Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in 2008. Throughout event, n prodigious talent scored 206 runs in six matches at an aver of 41.20. Dilip Vengsarkar talked about match against New Zealand Emerging Players where Black Caps scored 248-6 in ir 50 overs while batting first. Virat Kohli, who was asked to open innings in match, anchored a successful Indian run-chase and remained unbeaten on 120*.

Describing Virat Kohli’s match-winning effort, Dilip Vengsarkar said that he appreciated how batsman stayed till end and remained t out even after scoring a hundred. He revealed that at time, he thought this talented youngster must be drafted into Indian team because he was “mentally mature”. Dilip Vengsarkar also said that selection committee had already decided to pick “fringe” players from tournament, which is why y went with Virat Kohli.

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Interestingly, tournament also featured Virat Kohli’s future teammate Shikhar Dhawan, who made his international debut in 2010. Moreover, both Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan opened innings toger in match against New Zealand Emerging Players, where latter scored a well-paced 55 at top.

IPL 2020: Virat Kohli in RCB

Earlier that same year, Virat Kohli made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut through Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in inaugural edition of tournament. cricketer was appointed as captain of franchise in 2013. Apart from being considered as one of best batsmen in world cricket at moment, Virat Kohli is also leading run-scorer in history of IPL with 5,412 runs in 169 innings.

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