Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates 5ft high sculpture to celebrate Virat Kohli's birthday

Puri (Odisha) [India], November 5 (ANI): Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a sand sculpture on the occasion of Indian batter Virat Kohli's birthday at Puri Beach in Odisha on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Virat Kohli turned 36.
Sudarsan created a 5-foot-high sand sculpture of Virat Kohli using about 4 tons of sand. Students of his sand art institution joined in to complete the sculpture.
Speaking to ANI, the sand artist wished the ace cricketer on his 36th birthday.
"Today is Virat Kohli's 36th birthday and for which we have created a special sand sculpture to wish him. As an artist, we celebrated his birthday through the sand sculpture," Pattnaik said.
With a stellar career spanning over 15 years, Virat Kohli has cemented his position as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. His impressive records and numerous awards are a testament to his dedication and hard work.
From the days of being a young, spike-haired prodigy who led India to an iconic ICC U19 World Cup title win at Kuala Lumpur to 2008, Virat has proven himself to be the epitome of consistency, hard work, top-level fitness, dedication, aggression and various other traits a top-class sportsperson would have.
Having won India some of its biggest matches and spearheaded some of the sport's remarkable run-chases, Virat has evolved from just a classy stroke player to something way more: A statistician's delight that keeps everyone dissecting and marvelling at his numbers and a symbol of what Indian cricket is in modern age: Aggressive, in-your-face, resilient, razor sharp technically, filled with trophies to the brim and most importantly, a brand that has elevated the sport of cricket to people and places unknown.
Right from his international debut in 2008, Virat has represented India in 118 matches, scoring 9,040 runs at an average of 47.83 with 29 centuries and 31 fifties to his name and a best score of 254*. He is the fourth-highest run-getter and century-maker for India in Tests. (ANI)