How Virat Kohli's century while opening the batting earned him a spot in the Indian team

Former chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar on Wednesday spoke about how he spotted the then-prodigious talent in Virat Kohli and picked the youngster to represent the Indian cricket team.

In a live chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, Vengsarkar spoke about how Virat Kohli impressed him in an Emerging Players tournament in Australia that led to the youngster's selection in the Indian team.

"In the first match against New Zealand, they had scored 240-250 and Virat Kohli was asked to open the innings and he scored 123*. What I appreciated was that even after his hundred, he went on to win the game for his team and he remained not out. That really impressed me and there I thought that here is a boy that we must push into the Indian team because he was mentally mature and of course we picked him and the rest is history," Vengsarkar said.

The quality of Virat Kohli that impressed Dilip Vengsarkar

Vengsarkar happened to be present at the venues of the various games in which India featured during the Emerging Players tournament. As per the strategies discussed by the committee, they were keen on picking youngsters for the senior team, and one man who fit the bill was Virat Kohli.

And, that particular century against New Zealand was enough to elevate Virat Kohli's stature in the eyes of Vengsarkar as he was heavily impressed by the temperament of the youngster.

"When there was an emerging players’ tournament in Australia, I was the chairman of the selection committee (for the Indian team). We had decided at that point of time that we must pick players who were fringe players or who would play for India very soon, especially the U-23 boys. So we had picked Virat Kohli in the team," Vengsarkar added.

Virat Kohli has gone on to become one of the finest players India has ever produced across all formats and thus the decision to promote him to the Indian team was one of the biggest game-changing moments in the history of Indian cricket.