‘Padma Shri’ Virat Kohli gets felicitated by childhood academy

Virat Kohli had a stupendous 2016, where he finished as the top run-getter across formats. Team India did not lose a single Test series under him and even attained the No. 1 spot in Test Rankings. He also became the first player to average over 50 in all three formats of the game. The start of 2017 could not have been better, as he got the captaincy of Indian team in limited-overs as well after MS Dhoni stepped down. And now, the icing on the cake was the Padma Shri award, one of the highest civilian honours, from government of India. On Sunday, he was felicitated in Delhi to celebrate his Padma Shri award. West Delhi Cricket Academy felicitated its illustrious trainee at a function to celebrate his Padma Shri award and appointment as Team India captain in all three formats, reported PTI. The function was attended by veteran cricket administrator Rajeev Shukla, Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma and former cricketer Atul Wassan, who apparently had picked Kohli in the Delhi Ranji team for the first time when he was part of the selection committee, among others. Also present during the function was Kohli’s family, including brother Vikas and mother Saroj. On this occasion, Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma said, “Virat achieved success because of his work ethics and discipline. He has evolved as a player in all three formats and it is a matter of great pride that the world today acknowledges Virat’s amazing talent.” Kohli, who recently led India to triumphs over England in Test, ODI and T20I series, said on the occasion, “I have been with Rajkumar Sir for 19 years and my roots are with the academy. Everytime I go there I learn something.”