India's 2007 T20 World Cup Win Had A Huge Impact On My Career - Virat Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has said that India’s 2007 T20 World Cup win under MS Dhoni had a “huge impact” on his career. India defeated Pakistan in the final, played in Johannesburg, to claim the inaugural T20 World title.

Virat Kohli pointed out that that Indian team was fairly young, captained by a 26-year-old Dhoni. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan had opted out of the tournament. Dhoni, who was on the rise, was given the reins of the team, and he created history with a bunch of youngsters.

“It had a huge impact (on my career). I would not say that (India’s victory) was unexpected but no one really knew a lot about the T20 format back in the day. After the T20 World Cup win, the emergence of IPL was something that changed the game completely,” Virat Kohli told reporters on Saturday.

“It was a remarkable achievement by a young leader leading an even younger team,” he added.

It gave me the belief I could also perform at the highest level at such a young age: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli further underlined the importance of that win. Not only it attained India to glory in the year when they suffered humiliation in the ODI World Cup with an early group stage exit, but it also helped for the launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL), catapulting India as a super power in the world cricket.

The 32-year-old added that the triumph gave him and other youngsters the confidence that they could too shine on the biggest stage.

“But that World Cup we fondly remember; keenly watching this young Indian team achieving things at the world stage. Everyone thought it was (just) T20 cricket, initially, but then, we understood the impact of that win a few years down the line when the format became what it is today.

“For a young team to achieve what they did was very special, it was inspirational. We saw a lot of guys taking the field and making impact performances and what did for a youngster like me was give me extra motivation and belief I could also perform at the highest level at such a young age,” he added.

Virat Kohli shined soon as he led the under-19 team to World Cup glory in 2008 and would soon make his senior India debut. He would now captain the side in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Oman and UAE as the country awaits for their second T20 title.

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