Former India captain Virat Kohli is all set to unlock another milestone in his illustrious career by entering the 100 Test club. The first Test match between India and Sri Lanka is going to be Kohli’s 100th in the red-ball format. Many would have wanted Kohli to lead the Indian team in his historic Test but the 33-year-old shocked the cricketing world earlier this year by relinquishing his Test captaincy. Despite not being the captain of the team, Kohli still remains the most important player which holds the balance of the batting unit in middle-order. Since his initial days, Kohli has been controversy’s favourite child but that didn’t stop him to become one of the best players of the modern era.
Test Career in Numbers:
The 33-year-old is fondly known as a run-machine and despite not scoring a century in the past two years, Kohli has maintained a staggering average of 50.39 in Test cricket. He didn’t have the best off the start to the Test career as he scored just 4 and 15 on his debut against West Indies in February 2011, under the leadership of MS Dhoni. However, it was the Australia tour later that year, when Kohli scored a fighting hundred against heavyweight Australia at Adelaide. His place was in the squad was under a lot of threat after his inconsistent run in the red-ball format and the controversial middle finger incident to the Sydney crowd. Kohli silenced his critics with a 116-run knock and never looked back in his career.
So far in 99 Tests, Kohli has scored 7962 runs which include 27 centuries and 28 half-centuries. In his 100th Test, Kohli will also look to enter the 8k run club and try to break the century jinx which has been holding him back in the past couple of years.
Undisputable Captain:
Kohli relinquished his captaincy as India’s most successful Test captain. With 40 wins out of 68 Tests and a win-loss ratio of 2.353, Kohli pipped the likes of MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly. India registered 16 Test wins under his leadership. India finished at the top of the ICC ranking for five consecutive years with Kohli as the captain. The 33-year-old was named the captain of the Test side when India were ranked 7th in the ICC listings and he stepped down with India topping the charts.
He slammed twin tons on his first match as India Test captain against Australia at their own den. He scored 115 and 141 but India lost the match by 48 runs. The defeat didn’t hurt India much as that match instilled a belief in the players that they are not going to back down from the challenge and drawing the match will be the last option.
Under his captaincy, India registered the first-ever Test series win on Australian soil in 2018-19. While India also performed exceedingly well in the 2021 tour to England as they are 2-1 up in the series with the final Test to be played this year in July.
The Glorious 2016-17
2016-17 was the time when there was no stopping for Kohli in red-ball cricket. The batting maestro smashed six double centuries in that span of two years. He accumulated 2274 runs in 34 innings. Out of the six, five of the double tons came in home conditions. Meanwhile, two years later Kohli scored another double century and becomes the Indian player with the most 200 plus scores in Test cricket – 7.
Test Cricketer of the Year 2018
2018 was another year when Kohli was ruling the cricketing world while sitting at the top of ICC Test rankings. He scored 1322 runs in 13 matches at an average of 55.08 and that was a time when Kohli was the master of converting fifties into 100 as he slammed 5 Test centuries that year. His achievements were well recognized by the International Cricket Council as he was named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2018.
Highest Test Score
The cricketing world witnessed another peak of Kohli in 2019 when he scored a scintillating 254*-run knock against South Africa in Pune. He had the best chance of getting his maiden triple ton there but being the captain he put his team over his individual numbers and declared India’s innings on 601/5. India went on to win the Test match by an innings and 137 runs. While 254* remains Kohli’s highest Test score so far.
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