Kohli is one of the few successful Indian batsmen who has also thrived as a skipper.
In India’s next Test match, which begins on Friday, March 4 in Mohali against Sri Lanka, ace batsman Virat Kohli will create history, as it will be his 100th in the long format. He’ll be the 12th Indian to reach the three-digit mark. The 33-year-old could have done so earlier this year if he hadn’t been forced to miss the second Test match in South Africa owing to injury.
After the third match against the Proteas, he stood down as captain, and the forthcoming Test series would be the first without him at the helm. Despite Kohli’s absence at the toss, the match will still be focused on him due to his 100th red-ball appearance.
Playing 100 Tests for your nation is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a hitter. For any cricketer, being able to play at the greatest level for 500 days is a valued property. It is, after all, a survival identity, a triumph over the odds that a Test match throws at one. A cricketer’s identification as an achiever is automatically established after 100 Test matches on the circuit, something that 100 one-day or T20I matches would not.
Virat Kohli’s achievement is even more noteworthy. Since making his Test debut in the West Indies in 2011, he has not only been an excellent batsman (batting average of 50.39). He’s also a captain with a track record of success (40 wins in 68 Tests at 58.82 winning percentage). Kohli has a unique combination of becoming India’s best-ever Test captain and maintaining a 50-plus average in the format, which will put even some of the country’s legends in second place by a long shot.
Big names in Indian batting do not compare to Kohli as a skipper.
Virat Kohli doesn’t have much competition when it comes to other major personalities in Indian cricket who have played 100 Tests while also captaining the team. Sachin Tendulkar (200), Rahul Dravid (163), Anil Kumble (132), Kapil Dev (131), Sunil Gavaskar (125), Dilip Vengsarkar (116), Sourav Ganguly (113), and Virender Sehwag (103) are among the 11 other Indian cricketers who have played 100 Tests.
However, when it comes to captaincy, only Ganguly’s record seems to be equivalent to Kohli’s. He led India to 21 wins in 49 matches, with a win percentage of 42.85. He has a batting average of 42.17 in Tests, with 13 losses and 15 draws.
Tendulkar (batting average 53 plus) has only four wins in 25 games, Dravid (batting average 52 plus) has eight, Kumble (bowling average 29.65) has three, Kapil Dev has four (batting average 31 plus and bowling average 29.64), Gavaskar has nine (batting average 51.12), Vengsarkar has two (batting average 42.13), and Sehwag has two (batting average 49.43).
The names listed above are among the best in Indian cricket history, although they are more known for their batting or bowling abilities. Virat Kohli is an exception, since he develops a name for himself as well as his leadership.
Kohli’s record as a batter-captain, though, has some legitimate opponents from beyond India. Only five captains in history have led their teams to more victories than the Indian, and only two of them have won more matches.
Graeme Smith of South Africa (109 Tests), Allan Border of Australia (93 Tests), Stephen Fleming of New Zealand (80 Tests), Ricky Ponting of Australia (77 Tests), and Clive Lloyd of the West Indies (74 Tests) have all led their respective teams more than Kohli. Only Smith (53 Tests) and Ponting (48 Tests) have more victories than Kohli, and only Ponting has a higher winning percentage (62.33) than the Indian captain.
But, as Test batters, can any of these past leaders compare to Kohli?
Smith appeared in 117 Tests and scored 9,265 runs at a 48.25 average. Fleming batted in 111 Tests, scoring 7,172 runs at an average of little over 40. Lloyd appeared in 110 Tests and scored 7,515 runs with a strike rate of 46.67. Border and Ponting, two Australian players, came closest to Kohli by matching their leadership records with batting averages of 50 or higher in Tests.
Border, for example, played 156 games and scored 11,174 runs at a 50.56 average. Ponting, his replacement, played in 167 Tests and scored 13,378 runs with a strike rate of 51.85. Virat Kohli is also close to joining the 8,000-run club in the long format, and he can create history in Mohali by scoring the 38 runs he needs to join the select group.
Only five Indians have scored 8,000 or more runs in Tests so far, and despite his bat’s lack of attention over the previous two years, Kohli seems to be on track to surpass some of them in short time and add more feathers to his cap.