Virat Kohli is arguably the greatest T20I batsman the world has seen in the format’s history at international level.
The Delhi-born made his T20I debut in June 2010 against Zimbabwe in Harare and soon emerged as India’s main man with the bat and stood up time and again in T20 World Cups, with his clutch knocks against Australia in Mohali in 2016 and against Pakistan in Melbourne in 2022 hailed as two of the greatest T20I innings.
Kohli is the leading run-scorer in T20I history currently with 4008 runs at a magnificent average of 52 and strike rate of 137 with 1 centuriy and 37 fifties to his name.
In the same year as Kohli made his T20I debut, in 2010, there were 3 other Indians who had their maiden T20I appearance that year, however, they couldn’t have a long T20I career.
Here are 3 Indians who debuted in T20Is in the same year as Virat Kohli but faded away:
Vinay Kumar
Karnataka seamer Vinay Kumar made his T20I debut in May 2010, in the T20 WC against Sri Lanka. Vinay was India’s star with the ball in Virat’s debut vs Zimbabwe, picking up 3 wickets for 24 runs and halting Zimbabwe to only 111.
However, Vinay managed a handful of T20Is under his belt with his last T20I coming in 2013. In 9 T20Is, Vinay snapped 10 wickets at a decent average of 24 and a strike rate of 19.
Piyush Chawla
While Piyush Chawla has had a legendary IPL career, the leg-spinner failed to make a mark in T20Is having made his T20I debut in May 2010 in the T20 WC in West Indies. In 7 T20Is in his career, Chawla managed to take only 4 wickets at an average of 37. His lack of penetration ability saw him being ousted from the T20I side.
Naman Ojha
Madhya Pradesh wicket-keeper batsman Naman Ojha made his T20I debut alongside Virat when India sent a second-string squad to Zimbabwe and MS Dhoni was rested. Naman scored only 2 runs on his T20I debut, and in the next match scored 10 runs off 18 balls. Naman was dropped after that and never played a T20I again.
