Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in Delhi. His father, Prem Kohli, worked as a criminal lawyer and his mother, Saroj Kohli, is a housewife.
He has an elder brother, Vikash, and an elder sister, Bhavna.According to his family, when he was three-years old, Kohli would pick up a cricket bat, start swinging it and ask his father to bowl at him.
Kohli was raised in Uttam Nagar and started his schooling at Vishal Bharti Public School. In 1998, the West Delhi Cricket Association was created, and Kohli, a nine-year-old, was part of its first intake. Kohli's father took him to the academy after their neighbours suggested that "Virat shouldn't waste his time in gully cricket and instead join a professional club". Kohli trained at the academy under Rajkumar Sharma and also played matches at the Sumit Dogra Academy near Noida at the same time. In ninth grade, he shifted to Savier Convent in Paschim Vihar to help his cricket practice. Apart from sports, Kohli was good at academics as well, and his teachers remember him as "a bright and alert child".
Kohli's father died on 18 December 2006 due to brain stroke after being bed-ridden for a month. Regarding his early life, Kohli has said in an interview, "I've seen a lot in life. Losing my father at a young age, the family business not doing too well, staying in a rented place. There were tough times for the family... It's all embedded in my memory." According to Kohli, his father supported his cricket training during his childhood, "My father was my biggest support. He was the one who drove me to practice everyday. I miss his presence sometimes."
