Long before the captaincy and global fame, Virat Kohli was one of hundreds of boys lining up at a new cricket academy in West Delhi. Few fans know that he joined on the very day it opened.
A first day to remember
On May 30, 1998, former Delhi first-class cricketer Rajkumar Sharma opened the West Delhi Cricket Academy in Paschim Vihar. About 250 boys signed up that day. Among them was a young Virat Kohli, around 9 years old, who came with his father, Prem Kohli, and his elder brother, Vikas.
Notably, Virat Kohli had started playing the game in his housing society at the age of five, and his father drove him to practice every day.
Not the shot you would expect
What first caught Rajkumar Sharma’s eye was not a cover drive. In an interview with Hindustan Times, the coach said it was a flat throw from the boundary that set the boy apart.
The young Kohli was also impatient. He pushed to train with the older boys, and Sharma moved him to the senior group within weeks.
The coach’s biggest complaint about him was the flick, which Kohli played too often for his liking. That same flick later became one of the most familiar shots in world cricket.
School by day, academy by evening
Virat Kohli studied at Vishal Bharti Public School in Paschim Vihar from class 3 to class 9, then moved to Saviour Convent nearby. Through those years, the academy was his second home, and he spent more than four hours a day there before heading to the gym.
The night that changed him
In December 2006, the 18-year-old was batting for Delhi against Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy match at the Feroz Shah Kotla. He was 40 not out at stumps on the second day. Early the next morning, his father passed away.
Virat Kohli returned to the ground and made 90 off 238 balls. Delhi reached 308 and avoided the follow-on against Karnataka’s 446.
From Paschim Vihar to world champion
About 15 months later, on March 2, 2008, Virat Kohli captained India to the Under-19 World Cup title in Kuala Lumpur. India made 159, and in a rain-hit final, South Africa finished on 103 for 8, so India won by 12 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
A coach honoured, an academy still running
In 2016, Rajkumar Sharma received the Dronacharya Award, India’s highest honour for sports coaches, from President Pranab Mukherjee, and credited his students’ talent and work ethic. The bond held up. In 2021, while in England, Virat Kohli arranged a hospital room for Sharma when his coach fell ill with COVID.
The academy in Paschim Vihar still trains hundreds of young cricketers. It has also produced Anuj Rawat, who played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Kohli’s nephew, Aryaveer, now trains there too, on the same ground where his uncle’s story began on opening day.