It was on August 18, 2008, when current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, made his first foray into international cricket as he made his debut in the 50-over format.
Kohli made his debut against Sri Lanka in 2008 and the batsman went on to make just 12 runs in his first match.
The batsman who made his first century in 2009, now has the second most number of tons in ODI cricket. Kohli currently has 43 centuries in the 50-over format and he is just behind Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.
Fans were overwhelmed to realise Kohli’s completion of 11 years in international cricket and they started #11yearsofViratism as one of the top hashtag trends in India.
“The Day King Played His First ODI International Ball #11YearsOFViratism,” one fan tweeted.
“Picture speaks #11YearsOFViratism,” another fan tweeted.
“My Idol, My Inspiration @imVkohli. My Reason For getting Addicted to Cricket you made me fall in love with cricket #11YearsOFViratism,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Every time I see you play cricket you bring me a smile and make me feel motivated. Yeah! I like cricket but love watching you play it. @imVkohli, #11YearsOFViratism,” one fan tweeted.
“Time flies but memories stay with us, until the very end. Proud to be a teeny tiny part of your journey, weal and woes. Blessed is a mere word to describe our feelings for you and your game. We are the strongest fandom everrrr….!!! #11YearsOFViratism,” another Twitter user commented.
“Virat’s cover drive,#11YearsOFViratism,” another fan tweeted.
Kohli is currently the number one ranked batsman in both the ODI and Test format.
The 30-year old Kohli has been in a record-breaking spree as in the recently concluded ODI series against West Indies, as he became the first batsman to score 20,000 international runs in a decade.
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He also became the second-highest run-scorer for India in ODIS and he achieved the feat of becoming the highest-scorer against Windies in ODIs.
Kohli went on to make his debut in the Test and T20I format in 2010.
Kohli has so far played 239 ODIs, 77 Tests and 70 T20Is for the country. He currently has 11,520 ODI runs, 6613 Test runs and 2369 T20I runs.
(With ANI inputs)