Grateful for valuable lessons: Virat Kohli pays touching tribute to coach Rajkumar Sharma on Teachers' Day

The Indian skipper remembered his childhood coach Mr. Rajkumar Sharma and thanked him for his valuable lessons

Image Credits: Virat Kohli Instagram

New Delhi: 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 captioned the post as: "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."

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A 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've guided their students in their journeys.

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on Sep 5, 2020 at 3:56am PDT

The 31-year-old Kohli had played his first ODI against Sri Lanka at Dambulla on August 18, 2008, and managed to score just 12 runs. The right-handed batsman had opened the batting for the Men in Blue, and he faced 22 balls and batted for 33 minutes at the crease. Kohli also managed to hit one boundary but he was sent back to the pavilion by Nuwan Kulasekara.

Kohli then had to wait for 14 matches for his first century in 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.

To date, Kohli has 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. The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats. Kohli would next be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore with the Indian Premier League set to begin from September 19 in the UAE.