Former England captain Kevin Pietersen recalls why he believed Virat Kohli was destined for greatness when the two shared a dressing room for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the early days of the Indian Premier League. Kevin Pietersen was captaining the RCB squad during the2009 season. Back then, Virat Kohli was a relatively unfamiliar name as he was one of the youngest players in the squad. Virat hadn’t even made his Test or T20I debut for India before that.
Speaking to Betway, Pieterson recollects, “Sitting in the bus with Virat and batting with Virat, I knew he was destined for greatness because of how he approached the game and the way he learned and the questions he asked.”
“He was a chubby little fella back then and I still take the mickey out of him for it. But his determination to be the best player he could possibly be was evident.”
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“I remember I was winning a game for us against Rajasthan Royals and he ran me out. I gave him an absolute serve walking off the field. But you could see this was a youngster who was determined to get his team over the line. He wasn’t just going to give his wicket away and it didn’t matter how many Tests I’d played or how much more senior I was,” Kevin said.
Since then, Virat Kohli and shone brighter than a star being recognized as one of the best batsmen in the world. He took up the responsibility of captaining RCB in 2011 and since then has been their first choice captain. Virat is also the highest run-scorer of all time in the IPL. With more than 5000+ runs and 5 centuries to his names, Virat is just one century away from equalling his former teammate Chris Gayle’s record.
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Kohli’s success in the national colors is also unparalleled. Currently ranked second in the ICC rankings, he is just shy of 133 runs of breaking the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record of fastest 12,000 runs in international cricket.
“We do have an incredible friendship, probably because of the way I treated him when he was a youngster and how I helped and guided him at the start of his career,” said Kevin.
