By Prabir Biswas

Virat Kohli, the captain of Team India is in Bhutan holidaying with actress-wife wife Anushka Sharma on his 31st birthday on November 5. He has been rested for the ongoing T-20 series against Bangladesh in India and will be in the thick of things again when the two-Test series kicks off at Indore on November 14. And later he will become part of another cricketing history when India plays its first-ever day night Test, to be held at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, from November 22 with the pink ball.

It has been a dream run for Kohli over the years not only as a batsman but as a skipper as well. Today, he is the captain of the number one Test team in the world. He has not only adapted himself to all formats of the game but excels effortlessly with his bat. His run scoring capacity is phenomenal and the hunger seems to increase with every innings. If he goes on like this, he will no doubt break all records of an Indian batsman.

Kohli started playing international cricket in August 2008 and till date has played more than 82 tests (7066 runs; 26 centuries), 239 one-day internationals (11520 runs; 43 centuries) and 72 T20s (2450 runs; 22 fifties).

The cricketer who is a super hero to millions of fans in India considers his father as an inspiration and a super hero. This was revealed by Kohli himself at a function in Mumbai recently. His father dreamt that Virat would one day play cricket for India and the son has not let the father down.

Awards and accolades have come flowing to the talented batsmen over the years and he has been honoured with Arjuna Award, the Padma Shri and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

A fitness freak, Kohli has instilled new standards of agility and physical performance for his teammates on the field. He has set an example. Although his captaincy skills were in doubts when he took over, he has slowly but surely mastered the art of man-management, inspiring his juniors, developing strategies for the team and executing them to perfection on the field to achieve stupendous results. Today he looks a complete player. He has crafted a new era of India cricket where wining is the only mantra. His aggressiveness and relentless hunger for victory has transformed Indian cricket. Today India wins easily on home soil and abroad.

Happy Birthday Virat!

—The author is a cricket enthusiast and works as Deputy Editor at India Legal magazine