Apart from dominating international cricket in the last decade, former India skipper Virat Kohli has also left a huge mark in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Kohli holds the record for most number of runs in the cash-rich tournament (6283) and also most runs in a single IPL edition (973 runs in 2016). He also has the second-most number of centuries (5) to his name after Chris Gayle (6).

Virat has been a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) set-up ever since the inception of the IPL in 2008. He was signed by the franchise during that year’s ICC Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, which India had eventually won under his captaincy.

According to the IPL draft policy, every franchise had the option of picking two U-19 players and there was a salary cap set for them. Kohli was picked by RCB for a reported price of USD 30,000.

Recently, Virat Kohli recalled his signing by the Bangalore-based franchise for a hefty sum.

"We were all in Malaysia for the U-19 World Cup. I remember the day when the drafts were happening. The U-19 dynamic was a little different, because we very rightly so had a money cap, if I could say. That was the only time where I saw a restriction on how much you can be picked for if you haven't played for India.

"So that for us, I remember even that moment for us was so amazing. Because the amount that we got picked for when they announced it, we couldn't believe it because it was absolutely crazy," he told popular presenter Danish Sait in a podcast for RCB.

Kohli further recalled hearing from people that the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) were also interested to rope him in.

"There was one conversation where I heard from people that the Delhi team was interested to go after me but the dynamic of their team was such that they went for Pradeep Sangwan, who was a left-arm seamer. An amazing bowler, at that time he was our best bowler in the U-19 team. So Delhi decided to go for him because they wanted the bowling strength," he added.

Looking back at things in hindsight, Kohli is glad that RCB fetched him in the inaugural IPL auction.

"RCB picked me, that I think, in the hindsight, I feel like was such an impactful moment in my life that I didn't realise at that time. But now when I look back, things would have been very different to what they are now. I do not want to have it any other way than this."

Notably, Virat Kohli has been retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of the IPL 2022 mega-auction. He had stepped down as captain after the second phase of IPL 2021 and will be seen in action as a player moving forward.