Former India captain Virat Kohli is fond of cars and is often spotted with his swanky collection of four-wheelers. Being one of the highest-paid celebrities in India, Kohli, who loves driving cars, has some of the most expensive ones in his garage.
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Kohli, 34, has also been associated with luxury car brand Audi for a few years now. Having become their brand ambassador in 2015, a year which finished with him being announced as India’s Test captain, he is still a part of the company. Reportedly, he gets around INR 6-7 crore from Audi for endorsing their products.
However, at a time when Kohli couldn’t drive in Australia, he was assisted by their batter Usman Khawaja who used to drive him around in Brisbane.
Virat Kohli Had Usman Khawaja As Chauffeur In Australia
While not many would’ve known this but Khawaja and Kohli’s friendship goes back a long way. Although they have played just 20 international matches across formats against each other, Khawaja had asked Kohli for a signed Indian jersey post the completion of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
Throwing light on the incident on Fox Cricket at the time, Khawaja had recalled his first meeting with the Indian batting maestro. Kohli, who was yet to play for India, was attending a training stint at an academy in Brisbane when he first met Khawaja.
The left-handed batter shared how both of them formed a bond on the back of city tours. As per Khawaja, he was just 19-year old back in the day. As a result, it wouldn’t be wrong to presume Kohli’s age to be below 18.
“I have known Virat [Kohli] since I was 19 when I went to a cricket academy in Brisbane, the first time, he was actually one of the players that came from India,” Khawaja told Fox Cricket.
“I was driving around the bus where he was going and he couldn’t drive. So, I would DD for him a few times, and became good mates with him.”
Khawaja, who only represents his nation in Test cricket at the moment, wanted a signed jersey from Kohli considering a four-match Test series played earlier this year to be his last bilateral contest against the latter. That being said, the pair did lock horns against each other possibly for the last time during ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023 final at The Oval in June.
While the exact year of this incident cannot be confirmed, going by the timeline provided by Khawaja, Kohli wouldn’t have even played ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2008. While it is difficult to fathom that Kohli didn’t know how to drive irrespective of his age, he could’ve avoided driving in Australia due to a lack of an appropriate driving license.
Virat Kohli Loves Long Drives In Cars
Kohli, who often lays emphasis on doing normal things especially post gaining immense fame, still longs for long drives with music playing in his car. In a conversation with Audi, as quoted by CNTraveller, Kohli had talked about how he just loves driving car in his home city to be at peace.
With millions of fans around the country, it is understandably not easy for him to drive freely in any city. As a matter of fact, Kohli usually steps out in the presence of security persons in order to not let fans throng him on a daily basis.
“So yeah, it’s the most basic things which I crave for now as you don’t really get to drive during the hectic time of the day. Plus, you also have the chance of people recognizing you, that also plays on your mind. So, you know just to be able to go on a normal drive which is longer than your usual travel distance, just to enjoy and feel the car. I think that’s really relaxing – so that’s what I look for,” Kohli was quoted as saying by CNTraveller.
Kohli, who can now afford almost any luxurious brand of car, was born and brought up in a middle-class family. For those who don’t know, the iconic Tata Safari was the first car he had bought with his own money.
