Virat Kohli started crying, didn't sleep that night: Ex-teammate recalls brutal prank on former India captain

Virat Kohli is a livewire on the pitch when he is playing for India or his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Kohli enjoys the pressure and likes to be in the face of the opposition during a game. However, off the field, he remains a calm character who rarely lets the spotlight on him affect him too much. One of the best batters in the world at present, Kohli has already established his credentials as one of the legends of the game and has been brilliant across formats for the Indian team.

The former India captain has risen through the ranks having played age-level cricket and first-class matches before making his international debut for the Indian team in 2008. He was also the captain of the India U-19 side which lifted the U-19 World Cup in the year 2008.

While Kohli himself is a prankster in the Indian team and likes to have fun with his teammates, the superstar batter was once pranked by his teammates during his days in junior-level cricket. Kohli's former Delhi and India U-19 teammate Pradeep Sangwan recalled how he was reduced to tears and didn't sleep for a night after being pranked by his coach and teammates ahead of an under-17 match.

“We were playing in an U17 match in Punjab. He (Kohli) hadn't been scoring big in the past 2-3 innings. We had a coach named Ajit Chaudhary who used to call him 'Cheeku'. Virat was the main player of our team, and Ajit sir funnily suggested, 'let's tell him he will not play in the next match'. We all joined in on the prank,” Sangwan told News24.

“In the team meeting, sir didn't announce Virat's name. He went to his room and started crying! He phone-called sir and said I've scored a 200 and a 250.. he had scored big in that season, to be honest. It's just that he didn't get enough runs in the past 2-3 innings. He got so emotional he even phone-called Rajkumar sir (Virat's childhood coach)," he further recalled.

Sangwan then went on to reveal it was he who told Kohli that it was all a prank and that he would play the next game after the former India captain told him at the time that he hadn't slept the whole night due to the coach's decision of leaving him out.

"Then, he came to me and asked, 'Tell me Sangwan, what's wrong? I scored so many runs this season'. I told him, 'Yes yes, that's very wrong!'. He wasn't able to sleep all night as well. He said, “No, I don't want to sleep. What's the point of sleeping when I'm not playing?' Then, I told him that he isplaying. It was all a prank," said Sangwan.

Kohli and Sangwan were part of the India U-19 team in the 2008 U-19 World Cup. Delhi Capitals (Then Delhi Daredevils) had the chance to pick the first player from the U-19 draft at the IPL 2008 mega auction. They went for Sangwan, a fast bowler instead of Kohli, who was picked by his current team RCB.

Kohli has since played only for RCB in his IPL career and is currently the leading run-getter of all time in IPL history with 6411 runs in 216 matches at an average of 36.43, including five centuries and 42 fifties. He stepped down as captain of the side last year but is still their most expensive player in the current squad.