A sneak peek into Virat Kohli’s records and milestones over a glistening Test career

Virat Kohli has always been a man who had his eyes on greatness. Whether he was donning the threads of India U-19 or the senior team, he knew exactly what his intentions were and how he wanted to go about it. The clarity in his mind was one of his key weapons and that vision of ever-evolving greatness flowing from his blade is what made him a force to reckon with.

As the King decided to call it a day in the red-ball format, here’s a quick glance at the records that were racked up by the stylish batter in a journey that would possibly never be recreated but definitely will be revisited over and over and over again.

·      Under the reign of Virat Kohli, India held the No.1 spot in the ICC Test Team rankings for five years on the trot, ranging from 2016 to 2021.

·      Between 2015 and 2017, Kohli led India to nine Test wins, a feat which is only held by former Australian captain, Ricky Ponting.

·      While smashing 115 and 141 in Adelaide against Australia, Kohli also became the first Indian captain to rack up twin centuries on his captaincy debut.

·      Virat Kohli is also the only captain in the world to have smashed seven double centuries in Test cricket.

·      Kohli is also the leading run scorer as an Indian captain, amassing 5864 runs from 68 Tests at an average of 54.80.

·      Racked up 9230 runs from 123 Test matches which made him the fourth highest Indian run-scorer in Test cricket with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar ahead of him.

·      With 30 centuries in Test cricket, he is the 16th highest centurion across the world and the fourth highest in Indian.

·      Kohli also holds the record of being the highest double centurion in Test cricket with seven double hundreds.

·      Virat Kohli is the only Indian to score seven Test centuries in Australia, in the process, leapfrogging Sachin Tendulkar.

·      During the 2014/15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Virat Kohli became the first Indian to score four centuries in a single overseas Test series.

·      In the 2016-17 season, Kohli’s tally of 1059 runs is the highest by an Indian in a single home season.

·      Virat Kohli finished as the 12th highest run-getter in the World Test Championship with 2617 runs from 47 Test matches which also made him the second highest Indian run-scorer in the tournament.

·      Virat Kohli has smashed the most runs by an Indian batter in the calendar years of 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2023

·      Virat Kohli has scored double centuries in four consecutive Test series.

·      Virat also became the highest rating points earned by an Indian in ICC Men’s Test Batter rankings (937 points in 2018).