New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- On this day in 2008, Indian batting icon Virat Kohli made his international debut, starting what would turn out to be one of the finest cricketing stories of all time, filled with centuries, records, plots and fairytale finishes worthy of a masala Bollywood film.

A boy from West Delhi, who grind it out in domestic cricket and brought the U19 World Cup glory home in 2008, made his India debut against Sri Lanka, scoring 12 on debut. But what seemed to be a forgettable debut turned out to be one of sport's greatest stories of transformation, hunger, passion and resilience.

Since his debut, Virat has scored over 28,000 international runs, scored 85 centuries and has the entire world counting down each hundred that will...