Virat Kohli has completed 16 years in international cricket. He made his debut against Sri Lanka on 18 August 2008 and then with the passage of time he became the most reliable batsman of Team India. Virat has done so many amazing things in these years that the world started calling him 'King Kohli'. In the last 16 years, he has broken many records and established many new ones. The whole country is confident of victory just by his presence on the crease. He showed a sample of this in the final of the T20 World Cup. After continuous flops, he proved his batting prowess again by playing a match-winning innings for India in the final.

However, this journey has not been so easy for him. Let us know when and how Virat became one of the world's greatest batsmen.

Virat the 'King' of centuries

Virat Kohli has scored 80 centuries in international cricket so far. He has scored 29 centuries in Tests, 50 ODIs and 1 T20. He is the batsman who has scored the most centuries among active cricketers. That is why he is also called a modern legend. However, Virat had to struggle a lot in his early years. You will be surprised to know that the 'King' of centuries could not score a single century in his debut year.

In 2008, he had to be content with only 2 half-centuries. He scored his first century in 2009 against Sri Lanka, in which he scored 107 runs. He was able to score 2 centuries the next year as well. In 2011, he was selected for the World Cup. During this time, he could not do anything special. However, he did score 4 centuries in the whole year.

The year 2012 changed the picture

After making his debut, Virat Kohli could score only 7 centuries in 4 years. After this came the year 2012, which changed the whole picture. The whole world saw a sample of his talent and he became 'King Kohli'.

Virat Kohli had told that before this he was feeling unfit, due to which his performance was not improving. Then he worked on fitness and this proved to be a turning point for him. This year he announced his debut in international cricket by scoring a total of 8 centuries. This year he also became the batsman who scored the most centuries. In the year 2012, he also became the ICC ODI Player of the Year by scoring 5 ODI centuries.

This is how King Kohli became

Kohli never stopped after 2012. Virat Kohli scored 25 centuries from 2013 to 2016.

In the next two years, he became even more dangerous. In 2017 and 2018, Virat scored 22 hundreds. In 2018, Virat crossed the hundred mark 11 times. Be it Test or ODI or T20, he made a blast in every format. Not only this, Virat performed brilliantly everywhere, from India to foreign land. He scored centuries everywhere in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and led the team to victory. Due to this performance, he became 'King Kohli' in the eyes.

In the next two years, he became even more dangerous. In 2017 and 2018, Virat scored 22 hundreds. In 2018, Virat crossed the hundred mark 11 times. Be it Test or ODI or T20, he made a blast in every format. Not only this, Virat performed brilliantly everywhere, from India to foreign land. He scored centuries everywhere in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and led the team to victory. Due to this performance, he became 'King Kohli' in the eyes.