The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli is celebrating his 31st birthday on Tuesday and a video of his first televised interview, recorded back in 2007 before the start of the Indian cricket team’s World Cup campaign in West Indies, has gone viral on social media. At the time, Kohli, who was 18-years-old, was making a name for himself in the domestic circuit for New Delhi.

In the interview, where he sat alongside Delhi teammate Puneet Bisht, Kohli was seen analyzing India’s squad for the 2007 World Cup, and how the team would fare under Rahul Dravid’s leadership. He had said, “Success can be determined by how well the Indian players gel together and perform as a unit.”

https://youtu.be/9YDTLgFdGTo

At the time, there was a controversy surrounding Virender Sehwag’s selection in the squad, when chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar had revealed that Rahul Dravid insisted on including Sehwag in the squad. Kohli, in the interview, went on to say that the chief selector should never have made such a statement.

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Kohlu further explained, “Yes, such a thing should not have been disclosed on TV. This will affect Sehwag’s morale because his performance was anyway a bit down and after this statement was put out, his confidence could have become lower.”

He further added, “I think it’s okay on Dravid’s part. World Cup is a big tournament where you need experience, and can’t count on youth as much. According to my, it’s the right decision because Sehwag has a lot of experience and has scored a lot of runs for India.”

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On his 31st birthday, Kohli looked back on his younger self and wrote a note on Twitter. He shared a post on Twitter where he tried to explain his journey and some life lessons to his younger self. He wrote a letter as: “You will be loved by many and will be disliked too. By some who don’t even know you. Don’t care about them Keep believing yourself.”