2008 - A few months after leading India to victory in the under-19 world cup, Virat Kohli was called up to the India squad for a tour of Sri Lanka. His enthusiasm for competition was immediately evident.

2009 - During a home series against Sri Lanka in late 2009, kohli scored a fifty in Nagpur and followed it up with a maiden international ton at Eden gardens. At the time, kohli was happy to play shots on the back foot and scored plenty on the leg side.

2010 - Another three hundreds would come in 2010, the celebrations always animated.

2011 - Kohli made a century on world Cup debut and scored an important 35 in the final after India were 31 for 2. But his most memorable moment from the tournament came during India’s celebrations, when, in a television interview, he spoke these famous words: “Sachin Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It was time we carried him. Chak de, India!”

2012 - By 2011 - 12, Kohli was part of India’s Test Squad too and was beginning to show the combative side of his personality. During India’s calamitous Test Series in Australia, he found himself in battles with spectators and the Aussie players. So, when he got his maiden Test Hundred, in Adelaide, he didn’t hold back with his celebration.

2013 - In 2013, he top-scored in the Champions Trophy final against England with 43 from 34 balls in a rain-soaked encounter. After India’s win, Kohli, always the showman, brought out the ‘Gangnam Style’ dance.

2014 - An all-too-familiar site for Kohli on the 2014 tour of England as he couldn’t stop nicking the swinging Dukes ball behind, particularly off James Anderson. He averaged 13.40 in a series he often describes as his lowest phase in cricket.

2015 - After MS Dhoni’s abrupt retirement from Test Cricket after the 2014-15 MCG Test, Kohli took over the Test Captaincy for the New Year’s Test, in sydney. He had enjoyed a career-defining series and ended it with a century in the first innings.

2016 - Kohli’s best year in T20 Cricket saw him play one of the all-time great T20 world cup knocks as he scored 82 of 51 against Australia in Mohali to single-handedly put India in the semi-finals. He went on to score 973 runs in the IPL season, a record that still stands.

2017 - He was back feuding with the Aussies in 2017. In an ill-tempered series that included the infamous Steve Smith ‘Brain Fade’, each of Kohli’s wicket celebrations seemed aimed at antagonising the visitors.

2018 - An extraordinary year of Test batting was highlighted by kohli conquering the demons of 2014. He scored two hundreds and three fifties on the tour of England, the first a remarkable rescue act at Edgbaston that nearly gave India a winning start to the series. For the first time in his career, he went to the top of the ICC’s ranking of Test batters.

2019 - After four years in charge of the Test side, Kohli achieved his greatest feat as captain, beating Australia away in the 2018-19 Border Gavaskar Trophy. The once angry young man was turning into a mature statesman and celebrated with his spouse, Anushka Sharma.

2020 - In the midst of a century drought, kohli was out cheaply in Adelaide as India sank to their lowest Test total: 36 all out. He then took the rest of the series off for the birth of his first child as India, led by Ajinkya Rahane, pulled off an incredible series win.

2021 - A year of resignations. Kohli, officially in a slump with the bat, quit the RCB and the India T20 captaincy. By early 2022, he would quit the Test captaincy too. His determination to return to form was always evident, and it made headlines when he chose to skip the first Test of India’s home series against NZ to practise alone at the Brabourne stadium.

2022 - After a break from cricket, kohli got back in the runs with a hundred against Afghanistan at the Asia Cup and at the 2022 T20 world cup, he played another all-time classic, in a last-ball thriller against PAK. His consecutive sixes of Haris Rauf in the 19th over, in particular this hit straight down the ground, are already the stuff of legend.

2023 - The 2023-version of Virat Kohli is a calmer, more friendly personality than the young man of eight years ago, more likely to post a spiritual quote on social media than argue with an opponent. Sometimes, however, his feisty side still finds an outlet, as it did during RCB’s clash with LSG in 2023 IPL.

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