Courtesy; BCCI
The Indian cricketing stalwart Virat Kohli has made the decision to retire from Test cricket with immediate effect on Monday, May 12, not only bringing down the curtain on his long format career, but also sending shockwaves among his fans in India and all over the world. During his near 14-year Test career, Virat Kohli had many unforgettable moments as an individual player, captain, and the member of the Indian cricket team, and his contributions were instrumental in helping them become the best Test team in the world.
With that, Virat Kohli was also able to script a lot of records in the Tests, getting recognised among some of the best players in the world in the 148-year history of the format. In this article, SportsTiger looks at five unique records of Virat Kohli in Tests, a format in which he took pride in playing for the Indian cricket team throughout his career.
Top five unique test records held by Virat Kohli
Most Test wins as India captain
Virat Kohli captained the Indian cricket team 68 times in Test cricket from 2014 to 2022, winning 40 of those matches with an exceptional victory percentage of 58.82. With that, he became the captain with most Test wins for India, surpassing the likes of MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, and Kapil Dev, among others, solidifying his status among the greatest leaders in the longest format of the game.
Hundreds in each innings of Test match
In his first Test match as captain of India, which was played at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide in 2014, Virat Kohli scored hundreds in each innings, scoring 115 and 141, achieving this feat only once in his career. But, it wasn’t enough on the occasion because India lost the Test match to Australia by 48 runs, but it marked the start of a new era, not only for Virat Kohli, but also for the national team as well.
Most Test double hundreds for Indian player
Virat Kohli has scored seven double hundreds in his Test career, the most among Indian players, finding himself ahead of the likes of Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, and Sachin Tendulkar, among others. In the year 2016, he was at the peak of his powers in Tests, scoring four double hundreds in four consecutive series, which coincided with some of the best years for India in the format.
Test series wins in Australia as captain
In the 2018-19 season, Virat Kohli led India to their first-ever Test series win in Australia, clinching clinching the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2-1(4), and it was quite a dominating performance from the visitors down under. Just three seasons later, Virat Kohli played the first Test of the four-match series, which went India’s way 2-1 after his departure, and with that, he became only of the rare captains to secure a couple of Test series in Australia.
Most Test runs as India captain
Virat Kohli scored 5,864 runs as captain for India in 68 Test matches at an average of 54.80, the most among all the Indian captains in the longest format of the game. He is more than two thousand runs ahead of MS Dhoni in the all-time list, finding himself at number four spot behind the likes of Graeme Smith, Allan Border, and Ricky Ponting currently.
