28th Feb, 2012: The day Virat the prodigy turned into King Kohli

Virat Kohli has established himself as the best batter in the world (PC: Twitter)

In the early 2010s Indian cricket was hanging by a thread as it was time for Sachin Tendulkar to handover the baton. People were worried, 'will someone ever fill the boots of the God of Cricket?' 

The focus was on the 2011 ICC World Cup. But the question was still in everyone's mind, who will step up to fill the void? The dreams of a billion people came true when MS Dhoni's Men in Blue won the World Cup in 2011.  

Sachin's quest for the biggest ICC Trophy had ended and a few months down the line India started looking for its next cover star. 

There was this young bloke who came to Team India's rescue time & again during the early 2010s. With over 3000 runs & 8 ODI centuries the young gun was on his way to greatness. In the 2012 Commonwealth Bank tri-series the country witnessed a fearless young batter who took apart the best in the business.

February 28, 2012 was the day when India's crown prince, a young 23 year old Virat became 'King Kohli' 

Hobart, Australia was the battle ground, Sri Lanka the opposition - a tough task of chasing 321 runs in just 40 overs to have a shot at making it to the final of the tri-series. India started strong thanks to Sehwag & Sachin but soon the two stalwarts were back in the hut.

All eyes were on Virat Kohli as he walked out to the middle in the 9th over to join Gambhir in their quest to accomplish what the pundits thought was impossible.

The fact that the Sri Lankan bowling unit had Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Farveez Mahroof and Rangana Herath made it pretty clear that a prodigy wasn't enough to get past them, India needed a maverick & up he stepped.

It was in Hobart that the cricketing world first witnessed King Kohli taking full charge and using his powers to dampen the spirits of the best exponent of yorkers in world cricket, Lasith Malinga. Kohli creamed Malinga all around the park with a flick of his wrist, a shot which in the years to come became his trademark.

 It was absolute carnage in Hobart as Kohli took apart the duo of Malinga and Kulasekara with ease. Kohli's 100 on the night made it pretty clear that he was ready to inherit the 'Throne' soon to be vacated by the Master Blaster. What followed next was the crowning ceremony.

Lasith Malinga's 35th over: The Coronation Ceremony of the King

Lasith Malinga was smoked by Kohli on multiple occasions

Not many have forgotten what happened in the 35th over as Kohli scored 24 runs off Malinga's bowling. It was Kohli at his absolute best using his wrist and converting yorkers into boundaries. Every cricket fan on the planet has vague memories of those shots coming out of the King's blade and racing to the fence. 

The Malinga over read 2,6,4,4,4,4 as the Sri Lankan players watched their best bowler getting hammered in disbelief. India ended up wining in the 36.4 overs & it was official that 'King Kohli' is here to rule.

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