Virat Kohli, the star Indian batter celebrates his 36th birthday on November 5, 2024. He has been inspiration to the fans from all over the world and has been a consistent performer in all formats of the game in the last decade. The number 18 jersey has been always synonymous with the Indian run machine.
He has worn the jersey and played cricket. Fans have always flocked to the stadium wearing the number 18 jersey of the former Indian captain; whether be it an Indian jersey or the RCB jersey. In this article, we will take a look at the significance of that jersey number and why he chose that.
Few years ago, he spoke to Star Sports about it and stated that he started off playing in the U-19 with his name and number 18 on his jersey. Then it was just a number for him, but it slowly became an important number in his life. Kohli made his international debut on August 18 and also his father passed away on December 18. So, he feels that there are two important events that have happened on this number and hence he feels a cosmic connection with it.
Speaking to Star Sports a couple of years back, Kohli had said, “To be honest, 18 started off as being just a number that was given to me when I first opened that India U19 jersey with my name and number on the back. But it ended up becoming a very very important number in my life. I made my India debut on 18 August . My father also died on 18 December, 2006. Two of the most significant moments of my life happened to be on 18th. Even though I got the number before that, there seems to be a cosmic connection with this date.”
Virat Kohli will be seen in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25
Virat will now travel to Australia for a five-match Test series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has been in a very poor run of form in Test cricket and could not contribute against New Zealand in the home series which led to India getting whitewashed 3-0 at home.
This was India’s first Test series defeat at home since 2012 and also the first ever Test series whitewash at home since the time the team started playing Test cricket. Kohli will look to turn it around in Australia given that India needs to win four out of the five Test matches to qualify for the WTC Final.
