Teacher's Day: 'Grateful' Kohli's tribute to childhood coach

On the occasion of Teachers' Day, skipper Virat Kohli recalled the influence of his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, stating that he is forever grateful to him for all valuable lessons.

Sharing a picture with his childhood coach on Instagram, Kohli wrote on Instagram: "Teacher gives you many valuable lessons in your journey. Forever grateful for the ones I got from my coach Mr Rajkumar Sharma. Happy Teacher's Day to all the teachers who have guided their students in their journeys."

'Happy Teacher's day to all the teachers and coaches who encourage us and stand by us by being our constant pillar of support.  #HappyTeachersDay,' he wrote on Twitter.

The 31-year-old Kohli had played his first ODI against Sri Lanka at Dambulla on August 18, 2008, scoring just 12 runs.

Opening the batting for India, he hit one boundary in that innings after facing 22 balls in his 33-minute stay at the crease. Kohli was eventually sent back to the pavilion by Nuwan Kulasekara.

Kohli then had to wait for 14 matches for his first century in the ODI format, and he finally breached the 100-run mark against Sri Lanka at Kolkata in 2009. He went on to play a knock of 109 and this century was the first of many.

Kohli has so far registered 43 centuries in ODI cricket and has established his image as one of the finest run-chasers in the history of cricket.

The 31-year-old has played 248 ODIs so far, in which he has scored 11,867 runs at an average of 59.33 with his highest score being 183 against Pakistan. Kohli is in second place, only behind Sachin Tendulkar in the list for most hundreds in ODI cricket.

The Indian skipper is at the top spot in ODI rankings and is at the second spot in the Test rankings.

He has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62. His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date.

Kohli will next be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore with the Indian Premier League set to begin from September 19 in the UAE.