Kohli's UNBELIEVABLE Numbers!

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May 13, 2025 11:25 IST

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Between 2014 and 2019, he scored 21 centuries in just 55 Tests.
Among these were seven double centuries, the most by an Indian in Test cricket.
Remarkably, six of those double tons came within a span of just 22 Tests.

All photographs: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Most Prolific Indian Batsmen In Test Cricket

 
 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverage100s50s
Sachin Tendulkar 200 15,921 248* 53.78 51 68
Rahul Dravid 164 13,288 270 52.31 36 63
Sunil Gavaskar 125 10,122 236* 51.12 34 45
Virat Kohli 123 9,230 254* 46.85 30 31
V V S Laxman 134 8,781 281 45.97 17 56
Virender Sehwag 104 8,586 319 49.34 23 32
Sourav Ganguly 113 7,212 239 42.17 16 35
Cheteshwar Pujara 103 7,195 206* 43.60 19 35

Note: Dravid and Sehwag's tally includes runs scored for the ICC World XI.

Virat Kohli's Test career can be broadly divided into three distinct phases.

The first phase, from his debut in 2011 until August 2014, was a period of promise and learning.

During this time, Kohli offered glimpses of his immense talent but also faced his share of challenges, including inconsistent form and tough overseas tours.

The second phase, from late 2014 to the end of 2019, marked the peak of his Test career. It was a golden period where Kohli was at the height of his powers, piling on runs across conditions with remarkable consistency.

During these five years, he scored 21 centuries in just 55 Tests -- a staggering feat that underlined his dominance.

Among these were seven double centuries, the most by an Indian in Test cricket. Remarkably, six of those double tons came within a span of just 22 Tests, highlighting a phase where Kohli seemed unstoppable.

The final phase began in 2020 and was marked by a noticeable dip in form. The runs began to dry up, and centuries, once a regular feature of his batting, became rare. This decline became more pronounced from 2024 onwards, a period during which Kohli managed to average only 23.15 -- far below his lofty standards.

Together, these phases tell the story of a player who soared to incredible heights, endured tough lows, but always remained a central figure in Indian cricket.

Three phases of Virat's career

 
 TestsInningsRunsAverage100s50s
Debut to August 2014 29 51 1,855 39.46 6 9
September 2014 to December 2019 55 90 5,347 63.65 21 13
Since January 2020 39 69 2,028 30.72 3 9

Between September 2016 and December 2018 Virat aggregated 3,309 runs, which is the highest aggregate by an Indian in any 50 innings-streak in Test cricket.

In all Test cricket, only six players have bettered Virat's tally.

Best 50 Innings Streaks In Test Cricket

 
 RunsAverage100s50sStartEnd
Don Bradman 5,038 109.52 21 6 13/6/1930 19/12/1946
Viv Richards 3,483 72.56 12 15 3/1/1976 1/4/1981
Kumar Sangakkara 3,481 77.35 14 11 2/6/2006 30/7/2010
Mahela Jayawardene 3,451 73.42 14 6 11/5/2006 20/11/2009
Brian Lara 3,392 70.66 11 12 19/4/2001 7/6/2004
Ricky Ponting 3,318 77.16 13 9 16/8/2001 12/3/2004
Virat Kohli 3,309 71.93 13 8 30/9/2016 30/12/2018
Gary Sobers 3,291 74.79 13 8 22/8/1957 25/6/1963
Steve Smith 3,289 74.75 13 12 20/2/2016 15/9/2019
Mohammad Yousuf 3,253 67.77 13 9 19/12/2003 28/1/2007

Most Tests Double Hundreds By Indian Batsmen

 
 200sInnings
Virat Kohli 7 210
Virender Sehwag 6 180
Sachin Tendulkar 6 329
Rahul Dravid 5 286
Sunil Gavaskar 4 214
Cheteshwar Pujara 3 176

Kohli led India in 25 Test series, winning 18, losing just six, and drawing one -- the rain-hit series against Bangladesh.

In his 68 Tests as captain, India won 40 matches under his leadership -- the most by any Indian skipper by a distance.

His record at home is nothing short of phenomenal. India did not lose a single home series during his tenure. Out of 31 home Tests as captain, Virat lost just two, underscoring a near-invincible run.

More impressively, India won 24 of those matches, with 18 of them coming by an innings margin or by 150 runs or more -- an emphatic display of dominance.

Kohli's impact was not limited to home conditions. He also led India to historic triumphs overseas, becoming the most successful Indian captain both at home and away.

His overall win percentage as captain stands at an impressive 58.82% -- the highest among all Indian captains in Test history.

In fact, across all of Test cricket, only two captains who have led in 50 or more matches boast a better win percentage than Kohli. His legacy as a leader is firmly etched in the record books, and his influence on Indian Test cricket will be felt for generations.

 

Virat Kohli As Captain

 
Tests68
Won 40
Lost 17
Drawn 11
Win% 58.82
Home Wins 24 in 31 (Win% 77.41)
Away Wins 16 in 37 (Win% 43.24)

Most Test Wins By Indian Captains

 
At Homebroad
24: Virat Kohli 16 Virat Kohli
21: M S Dhoni 11: Sourav Ganguly
13: Mohammed Azharuddin 6: M S Dhoni
10: Sourav Ganguly 5: Rahul Dravid
10: Rohit Sharma 3: Mansoor Ali Khan 'Tiger' Pataudi
7: Sunil Gavaskar 3: Bishan Singh Bedi

India's Most Successful Test Captains (Minimum 10 Tests)

 
CaptainPlayedWonLostDrawnWin%
Virat Kohli 68 40 17 11 58.82
Rohit Sharma 24 12 9 3 50.00
MS Dhoni 60 27 18 15 45.00
Sourav Ganguly 49 21 13 15 42.85
Rahul Dravid 25 8 6 11 32.00
Mohammed Azharuddin 47 14 14 19 29.78
Bishan Singh Bedi 22 6 11 5 27.27
Ajit Wadekar 16 4 4 8 25.00
M A K 'Tiger' Pataudi 40 9 19 12 22.50

 

Most Successful Test Captains (Minimum 50 Tests)

 
CaptainPlayedWonLostDrawnWin%
Steve Waugh 57 41 9 7 71.92
Ricky Ponting 77 48 16 13 62.33
Virat Kohli 68 40 17 11 58.82
Viv Richards 50 27 8 15 54.00
Mark Taylor 50 26 13 11 52.00
Michael Vaughan 51 26 11 14 50.98
Hansie Cronje 53 27 11 15 50.94
Clive Lloyd 74 36 12 26 48.64
Graeme Smith 109 53 29 27 48.62
Andrew Strauss 50 24 11 15 48.00

 

For many players, the added responsibility of captaincy has weighed heavily on their batting. But for Virat Kohli, it had the opposite effect -- he thrived under pressure.

In fact, Kohli's batting reached new heights once he took on the leadership mantle. He scored twice as many centuries as captain than he did as a player, despite featuring in just 13 more Tests.

Of his 15 highest Test scores, 13 came while he was leading the side, including his career-best innings.

Kohli's numbers as captain are staggering. His batting average of 54.80 is the highest of any player who has captained in 50 or more Tests -- a testament to his consistency and class under pressure.

And no captain in Test history has scored more double centuries than Kohli's seven.

Far from being a burden, the captaincy brought out the very best in Virat Kohli the batter.

IMAGE: Celebrating his 30th and final Test century in Perth, arms wide, eyes glistening. Photograph: BCCI/X

Virat As Player And Captain

 
 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverage100s50s
As Player 55 3,366 186 37.40 10 13
As Captain 68 5,864 254* 54.80 20 18

Highest Batting Average As Captain in Tests (Minimum 50 Tests)

 
 TestsRunsAverage100s50s
Virat Kohli 68 5,864 54.80 20 18
Steve Waugh 57 3,714 52.30 15 10
Ricky Ponting 77 6,542 51.51 19 35
Misbah-ul-Haq 56 4,214 51.39 8 35
Clive Lloyd 74 5,233 51.30 14 27
Allan Border 93 6,623 50.94 15 36
Graeme Smith 109 8,659 47.83 25 36
Alastair Cook 59 4,844 46.57 12 24
Joe Root 64 5,295 46.44 14 26
Viv Richards 50 3,068 45.11 6 23

 

Most Double Hundreds By Captains In Tests

 
 200sInnings
Virat Kohli 7 76
Brian Lara 5 85
Don Bradman 4 38
Michael Clarke 4 86
Graeme Smith 4 193

Virat's 50 innings streak discussed earlier came during his captaincy stint.

No other captain has ever had such a prolific run with the bat in Test cricket history.

Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

Best 50 Innings Streaks In Test Cricket By Captains

 
 RunsAverage100s50sStartEnd
Virat Kohli 3,309 71.93 13 8 30/9.2016 30/12/2018
Mahela Jayawardene 3,308 68.91 14 7 8/3/2006 25/6/2012
Brian Lara 3,259 69.34 11 13 10/12/1998 7/6/2004
Steve Smith 3,171 73.74 13 11 26/12/2014 30/12/2017
Ricky Ponting 3,130 78.25 13 13 18/11/2004 5/12/2006
Michael Clarke 3,096 68.80 12 6 16/9/2011 9/12/2013
Graham Gooch 3,044 63.41 9 14 4/8/1988 9/8/1992
Bob Simpson 3,020 62.91 10 11 2/7/1964 3/2/1978

 

 
  • Made his Test debut aged 22 years 227 days against the West Indies at Kingston in June 2011, with scores of 4 and 15 while batting at number five.
  • Scored 44 and 75 in the Perth Test against Australia in January 2012 to become the third youngest Indian to top-score in both innings of a Test after Sunil Gavaskar and Lala Amarnath.
  • Scored his maiden Test hundred at Adelaide against Australia in January 2012 aged 23 years 82 days. Only Sachin Tendulkar (18 years 256 days) and Dattu Phadkar (22 years 46 days) were younger than Kohli when they scored a hundred on Australian soil.
  • Became only the fourth Indian to score a hundred on Test captaincy debut after Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar when he notched up 115 against Australia at Adelaide in December 2014.
  • Became only the second player in Test history to score hundreds in both innings of a Test on captaincy debut after Australia's Greg Chappell.
  • At 26 years 38 days Virat became the youngest captain to score two hundreds in a Test, taking the record from Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor.
  • 147 at Sydney in the fourth and final Test of the 2014-2015 series against Australia gave Virat the unique distinction of scoring three hundreds in the first three innings as Test captain.
  • Became the first Indian captain to win an away series after losing the first Test. Virat did so against Sri Lanka in 2015 where India lost the first Test at Galle, but then bounced back by winning the consecutive Tests in Colombo.
    Even at home only two Indians -- Ajit Wadekar and Sourav Ganguly -- accomplished this feat.
  • By winning the 2015 series against Sri Lanka 2-1, Virat Kohli became the youngest Indian captain to win a series outside India. Mansoor Ali Khan, the nawab of Pataudi, was 27 years 67 days old while beating New Zealand in New Zealand in 1967-1968.
  • Became the first Indian captain to score a double hundred outside India when he made 200 against the West Indies at North Sound in 2016.
  • At North Sound, Virat became the first Indian captain to register an innings win over the West Indies in the West Indies.
    It was also the biggest win by innings margin for India outside the subcontinent.
  • As India beat the West Indies at Gros Islet by 237 runs, Virat became the first Indian captain to win more than one Test in the West Indies.
  • With his 211 against New Zealand at Indore in October 2016, Virat became the first Indian captain to score two double hundreds.
  • By the 3-0 sweep against New Zealand, Vira became only the third Indian captain to make a clean-sweep in a series of three matches or more, after Mohammad Azharuddin (vs England in 1992-1993 and vs Sri Lanka in 1993-1994) and M S Dhoni (vs Australia in 2012-2013).
  • By winning the series against New Zealand, Virat took the India to number one position in ICC Test rankings.
  • By scoring 248 runs (167 + 81) at Vizag in November 2016, Virat established a new record of most runs by an Indian captain in a Test against England.
  • By scoring 235 vs England at Wankhede in December 2016, Virat got the record of highest score by an Indian captain in Tests (he subsequently bettered the record twice!). He also became the first Indian to score three double hundreds in Tests in a calendar year.
  • Virat's 655 runs against England in 2016-2017 are the most by an Indian against England in a series.
  • Led India to nine Test wins in 2016 -- the most for any Indian captain in a calendar year.
  • Between August 2015 and February 2017 Virat led India in 19 Tests without losing a single one! This is the longest streak for India without a defeat.
  • By scoring 204 against Bangladesh at Hyderabad in February 2017 Virat became the first player in Test history to score double hundreds in FOUR consecutive series. Don Bradman and Rahul Dravid had scored double tons in three consecutive series.
  • Virat ended the 2016-2017 home season with 1.252 runs -- the most any captain has aggregated in a home season. England's Graham Gooch had made 1,058 runs in the 1990 season.
  • Virat's 213 against Sri Lanka at Nagpur in November 2017 gave him the record of most Test hundreds by an Indian captain, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 11 hundreds.
  • Became the first captain to score a hundred in each game of a three Test series (v Sri Lanka at Delhi in December 2017).
  • Scored 610 in the home series against Sri Lanka in 2017, the most by an Indian in a three Test series.
  • With the series against Sri Lanka, Virat became the first Indian to aggregate 600 runs in a series on three occasions. Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid have done so on two occasions each.
  • Won 9 consecutive series as captain between 2015 and 2017 -- joint-most by a captain with Ricky Ponting.
  • Became the highest run-scoring Indian captain in Tests at Johannesburg in January 2018, surpassing M S Dhoni's tally of 3,455 runs.
  • Became No. 1 ranked batsman in the ICC Test rankings in August 2018, the first since Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011 to achieve this feat.
  • Completed 4,000 runs as captain against England in 2018 and in doing so, became the fastest to reach this mark, taking only 65 innings. Brian Lara had taken 71 innings.
  • In December 2018 Virat scored his 25th Test hundred (v Australia at Perth) in 127 innings, becoming the fastest Indian and the second fastest after Don Bradman (68 innings). Steve Smith bettered Virat's record in 2019.
  • Became the first Indian, and also the Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia as India clinched the series 2-1 in January 2019.
  • In September 2019 Virat became most successful Test captain for India, going past M S Dhoni's tally of 27 wins as India beat the West Indies 2-0 in the West Indies.
  • In October 2019, Virat captained India for the 50th time in Test cricket (v South Africa at Pune).
    In the first innings of the Test, he scored an unbeaten 254, his highest score in Test cricket.
    This innings also made him the first Indian batsman to score seven double centuries in Test cricket.
    During the course of his innings, Virat also completed 7,000 Test runs.
  • Completed 5,000 runs as captain against Bangladesh in November 2019 and in doing so, became the fastest to reach this mark, taking only 86 innings. Ricky Ponting had taken 97 innings.
    In the same match he also scored his 70th century in international cricket.
  • In January 2022 Virat stepped down as Test captain, after losing the series to South Africa 2-1 in South Africa.
  • In March 2022 Virat played his 100th Test (vs Sri Lanka), becoming the 12th Indian to play this many matches. He also completed 8,000 Test runs, becoming only the sixth player to accomplish this feat for India.
  • In March 2023 Virat scored 186 against Australia at Ahmedabad, his first Test century in three years.
  • In July 2023 Virat completed 25,000 runs in international cricket during his innings of 121 in the Port-of-Spain Test.
  • In October 2024 Virat completed 9,000 Test runs, becoming only the fourth Indian to reach this landmark.

IMAGE: Virat Kohli celebrates his century during the second Test against Australia in Perth. Photograph: BCCI

Performance Against Each Country

 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate100s50s0
v Australia 30 2,232 186 43.76 52.00 9 5 3
v England 28 1,991 235 42.36 52.06 5 9 6
v South Africa 16 1,408 254* 54.15 57.25 3 5 0
v Sri Lanka 11 1,085 243 67.81 68.28 5 2 1
v the West Indies 16 1,019 200 48.52 53.15 3 6 2
v New Zealand 14 959 211 38.36 53.90 3 4 2
v Bangladesh 8 536 204 48.72 71.65 2 0 1
Overall 123 9,230 254* 46.85 55.57 30 31 15

 

Performance In Each Country

 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate100s50s0
In India 55 4,336 254* 55.58 59.30 14 13 7
In Australia 18 1,542 169 46.72 52.44 7 4 2
In England 17 1,096 149 33.21 51.91 2 5 4
In South Africa 9 891 153 49.50 54.03 2 4 0
In The West Indies 11 660 200 44.00 50.73 2 3 2
In Sri Lanka 6 394 103* 43.77 55.72 2 1 0
In New Zealand 4 252 105* 36.00 57.53 1 1 0
In Bangladesh 3 59 24 14.75 39.07 0 0 0

 

Performance At Home And Away 

 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate100s50s0
at home 55 4,336 254* 55.58 59.30 14 13 7
away 68 4,894 200 41.13 52.64 16 18 8

 

 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate100s50s0
In SENA ountries 48 3,781 169 41.55 52.97 12 14 6
In The Subcontinent 64 4,789 254* 52.62 58.62 16 14 7

 

Virat In Won/Lost/Drawn Tests

 
 TestsRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate100s50s0
In Tests Won 62 4,746 254* 51.58 57.92 14 16 7
In Tests Lost 39 2,543 153 32.60 51.39 7 10 5
In TestS Drawn 22 1,941 243 71.88 56.00 9 5 3

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff

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