Virat Kohli made his India debut in August 2008 in an ODI against Sri Lanka. In 2010, he made his T20I debut, and a year later, he got his Test cap.
Over the following decade and more, Virat Kohli became arguably the greatest all-format batsman, plundering big runs and centuries and winning games for India with incredible consistency.
He has amassed 25322 international runs, the 6th most of all-time, and has ransacked 75 hundreds, only behind Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 100 centuries. The 34-year-old also became one of India’s greatest captains across formats and India’s Test era under Kohli’s captainship is hailed as perhaps the best in Indian cricket.
As Kohli reached the pinnacle of world cricket, there have been a few other cricketers who made their debut close to after Kohli’s debut, but they faded away.
Here are 4 Indian cricketers who debuted with Virat Kohli but soon fell apart:
Naman Ojha
One of the finest wicket-keepers of his generation, Naman Ojha made his India debut in 2010. However, Naman Ojha could get himself in India’s XI for only 1 Test, 1 ODI, and a couple of T20Is because MS Dhoni, the captain, remained the first-choice keeper. Ojha managed 69 runs in his 4 matches for India.
The Madhya Pradesh batsman, who also batted for SRH and Delhi in the IPL, last played first-class cricket in 2020 before retiring in 2021. He then took part in the Road Safety World Series tournament for the India Legends team.
Saurabh Tiwary
Jharkhand’s Saurabh Tiwary was touted for big things but had a rather underwhelming career. Tiwary burst onto the scene with his MS Dhoni hairstyle and hard-hitting batting, making big noise in the 2010 IPL, helping Mumbai Indians reach the final and bagging the Emerging Player of the Season award.
Impressive performances everywhere earned him an India ODI cap in 2010. He scored 49 runs in 3 matches before being dropped and never to be picked up again for the country. His IPL numbers took a nosedive so did his domestic numbers.
Subramaniam Badrinath
Labeled as the crisis man at Chennai Super Kings, classical Tamil Nadu batsman Subramaniam Badrinath made his India debut in 2008, in the very next match as Virat did.. However, the classy right-hander couldn’t translate his success in domestic cricket to international cricket.
Badrinath played in 7 ODIs,1 T20I and 2 Tests with a single fifty-plus score. He continued to ransack big runs in domestic cricket until calling time in 2018. Recently, he turned up for the India Legends and the Maharajas.
Abhinav Mukund
Abhinav Mukund was part of the India under-19 squad with Virat Kohli in 2008. After slamming loads of runs in domestic cricket – including a triple-century – Mukund got his India Test cap in 2011 on the West Indies tour when both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were injured.
But, Mukund’s international career couldn’t really kick off as he would have expected and remained a backup opener. He featured in 7 Tests between 2011 and 2017, averaging 22 with a couple of fifties to his name. He played in 3 IPL matches combined for CSK and RCB.