The former Sports Marketing head of Nike and ex-India cricketer Jatin Paranjpe talked about how a young Virat Kohli got signed by the brand. Virat had impressed Jatin, who was looking for youngsters ahead of the 2008 Under-19 World Cup.

Kohli's attitude impressed Paranjpe, who was the Sports Marketing head from 2006 to 2012. Nike had the idea to produce bats and they were looking for a promising youngster. That's when Virat caught Jatin's eyes. 

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“Through my coaches’ network, I started going to watch a lot of matches, and Virat was one of them in an India U-19 camp ahead of the 2008 U-19 World Cup. I saw that he had something in his eyes - a hunger, confidence,” Paranjpe told Gaurav Kapur on his YouTube Show 22 Yarns. 

“Virat Kohli was my very first signing, and the next day, I signed Tanmay Srivastav.” 

S Sreesanth was the only signing by Nike at that time and his temperamental issues had put him on the edge. Paranjpe said, “Nike had only Sreesanth as a cricket athlete and at that time, there wasn’t the thought for a Nike bat."

“It was just footwear, shoes, etc. And we had a roster that had only S Sreesanth written on it. That is an extremely dangerous situation to be in and that scared the daylights out of me.”

Kohli had continued with Nike's sponsored bats until the brand sued him for a breach of contract. Nike claimed Kohli had breached the contract by disagreeing to continue as its brand ambassador till 2014.