Australia star all-rounder, Marcus Stoinis feels that Virat Kohli is an inspiration not just for Indian cricketers but also for the cricketing community across the globe. Stoinis who is playing for Punjab Kings in the IPL, gave his two cents on the kind of bond he has with Kohli. As per the PBKS all-rounder, Virat has set an unmatched fitness standard for the budding cricketers across the globe.
Virat Kohli has been playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the last 17 years, standing solid for RCB. The former India skipper has achieved a plethora of records and has become one of the stalwarts of the IPL. While talking to PTI, Marcus Stoinis stated that he has been following Kohli since the 2008 U19 World Cup.
“We’ve known each other for a long time. We’ve got a mutual friend in Perth that has known him for a long time as well. So that’s sort of how that relationship started. But yeah, what a great career it’s been so far. It’s definitely not finished. It seems like he’s worn a few caps throughout his career in terms of being the young guy coming into an Indian team that forced his way in there at such a young age and showed such confidence in himself to crack into such a good team to then leading the team and almost changing the whole culture of Indian cricket and inspiring a lot of the young cricketers around India and around the world,” Stoinis said.
“And then a whole new phase of the fitness side of things as well that he inspired in the Indian set-up to now mentoring the new kids on the block. And he’s got his family now as well. I think all of those phases have served a purpose, not only for himself, but as a mentor for the wider public and the cricket community. So always hats off to him, to be honest,” he added.
Virat Kohli is currently playing his 18th IPL season for RCB and is looking to lift the trophy this time. RCB started their IPL 2025 campaign with a facile win over Kolkata Knight Riders where Kohli smashed 59 off 36 balls. Their next challenge will be against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as they will face them on March 28.