Why Virat Kohli wears jersey number 18? Here is the 'cosmic' connection

Many Virat Kohli fans can be be seen wearing jersey number 18 in support of their star who also dons the same number jersey. In fact, from the India under-19 days, Kohli has always donned jersey number 18. Even in the IPL, he uses the same jersey number. In an interview with Star Sports last year, the star cricketer, who on Wednesday broke Sachin Tendulkar's record by hitting his 50th ODI century, revealed his connection with the jersey number 18.

Kohli said that he had never asked for that particular jersey number when he made his under-19 debut for Team India. "I never asked for it, it was just given to me,” said Kohli. But later in his career the number became an important part of his life. He debuted for India on 18th of August, 2008. And his father passed away on the 18th of December, 2006. "Two of the most significant dates in my life happened to be 18,” he said.

“There has to be a cosmic connection with this number," he said.


On Wednesday, Virat Kohli scored 117 runs off 113 balls against New Zealand, taking him past Sachin Tendulkar's all-time ODI ton record. He had equalled Tendulkar's feat of 49 tons on his 35th birthday on November 5 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against South Africa.

"Virat never played for records. They happened as he progressed," Kohli's biographer Vijay Lokapally told AFP. "Longevity leads to milestones and that is what Virat has inherited from stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar."

After his record was broken, Tendulkar on "X", formerly Twitter, wrote, "I couldn't be happier that an Indian broke my record. And to do it on the biggest stage - in the World Cup semi-final - and at my home ground is the icing on the cake."

It is to noted that Kohli went through an extended lean patch that spread across since 2021, failing to reach three figures in over 1,000 days. Kohli then hit his first hundred after a gap of 1,020 days in the 2022 T20 World Cup and has not looked back.

Kohli is now the top scorer of the World Cup so far, hitting 711 runs in 10 innings.