Virat Kohli may be one of the world's most successful batters today, but he admits to being anxious when he made his ICC ODI World Cup debut in 2011. Kohli made his India ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2008, followed by his World Cup debut against Bangladesh in 2011.
And, while he failed to lead India to an ICC title as captain, Kohli was a member of the Indian team that won the 2011 ODI World Cup at home. Kohli was one of the few young players in the Indian team, with Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Zaheer Khan, to name a few.
India played their first match in the 2011 World Cup in the tournament opener against co-hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka. Kohli admits to having butterflies in his stomach after being given the opportunity to play with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, and others.
Kohli produced a memorable innings, scoring an unbroken 100 off 83 balls, including 8 fours and 2 sixes. He also shared a 203-run partnership with Sehwag, who tortured the opposition bowlers with 175.
He also became the first Indian to score a century on his ICC World Cup debut.
“It was against Bangladesh in Dhaka, my first game and I was nervous. Yes, I will not lie. There is a different sense of excitement in the air when you come for a World Cup and I could obviously sense that. I was the youngest member of that team and I was getting to play with all these greats of Indian cricket in a World Cup game,” Kohli told Star Sports.
"For me, it was definitely a moment where I was a bit nervous heading into the game and definitely the night before I was quite nervous but that is a good sign as well because your body is preparing you to enter a situation where you’re alert, you’re not taking things for granted. I think that nervousness helped me to be aware, be alert, and be absolutely precise in the execution of my plans," he added.
Virat Kohli has proven himself to be a great of the game and of the ICC World Cup, as he recently scored 765 runs in the 2023 World Cup in India, including three centuries. He broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs in one edition of World Cup- 673.
