A look at Virat Kohli’s legacy as Test captain

On December 9 2014, star India batter Virat Kohli took to the field as Test captain for the first time ever during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Marking a start of, perhaps, India’s golden period in Test cricket. This period witnessed plenty of records broken, on-field confrontations and aggression and the long-format cricket at its very best. This marked a massive paradigm shift in the way India played its cricket in white clothing.

Due to MS Dhoni’s unavailability due to an injury, the first Test against Australia, at Adelaide Oval, saw a 25-year-old donning the captain’s blazer for the first time ever. The young Indian rising star was already under fire following a poor tour of England, which saw him struggle against the mighty swing of legendary James Anderson and Stuart Broad, seeing him score just 134 runs in 10 innings across five Tests. This meant he had something to prove when he landed on Australian shores. That he belonged in the whites and his previous Test tons, including ones in New Zealand and South Africa, were not a fluke. Already an established player in white-ball set-up, Virat was out there to prove that he could hang out with the best in the most difficult conditions.

In the first Test itself, Virat got that opportunity and grabbed it by its throat. He smashed twin centuries, 115 and 141 during the match. While the first one helped India reach 444 in reply to Australia’s first innings total of 517 runs, his well compiled 141 in 175 balls, with 16 fours and a six was a statement during a 364-run chase during the final day of the match. A statement that Virat would not be just happy with saving face and shaking hands after a draw. However, he would take it upon himself to scrape out a win for his team.

This aggression, will to win and never-say-die attitude rubbed off on the rest of his teammates too. Eventually, by the time he quit the position in 2022, he had one envious resume. In 68 Tests, he won 40, lost 17 and drew 11. His win percentage was 58.82, making him the most successful Indian Test captain ever. In terms of wins, Virat retired as the fourth-most successful Test captains ever, with Graeme Smith of South Africa (53 wins in 109 matches), Australia’s Ricky Ponting (48 wins in 77 matches) and Steve Waugh (41 wins in 57 matches) above him. Virat has won the most Tests by an Asian captain.

Under his captaincy, India won 16 Tests away from home out of 36 Tests, five more than Sourav Ganguly (11), who held this record for most away Test wins for India as a captain previously. Under Virat, India lost away from home on 14 occasions and drew six times.

In South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia (SENA) countries, Virat won seven out of his 23 Tests, lost 13 and drew just three. If Ganguly had taught India how to fight better in overseas conditions, Virat took it above a notch. He ensured that his entire team impose their will on their opposition in their own territory, be it through bat, ball or verbal jabs/confrontations.

Virat’s distant rival in SENA conditions among his countrymen was MS Dhoni (three SENA wins). While Dhoni won one each in England, New Zealand and South Africa, Virat won three in England and two each in Australia and South Africa.

Including the ICC World Test Championship final, Virat led India in 14 assignments away from home, winning five (two each against Sri Lanka and West Indies and one against Australia) of those. He did lose six of these series (including only one match against Australia during 2020-21 which he left after first Test after birth of his first child and the ICC World Test Championship final) and drew three (including the 2021-22 England series in 2020-21, which India was leading 2-1 under Virat’s captaincy untill reschedulement of fifth Test which was won under Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy). India also led the England series away from home in 2021 by 2-1 before COVID-19 forced reschedulement of final Test, which India lost under captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah and England levelled the series by 2-2. India also lost six series and drew three (including the 2021-22 England series with final Test played under Bumrah’s captaincy).

Virat was no slouch in home conditions either, leading his team to memorable series wins at home as well. In 11 home series that he captained India in, India won ten and dropped just 2 out of 31 matches. India ended 24 matches on victorious side and drew just five. His win loss ratio of 12.000 is the highest among all Indian captains at home.

Overall, Virat captained India in 25 series, winning 15 of these.

Also, the 36-year-old believed in leading from the front as a batter. He has most runs by an Indian captain in Tests, scoring 5,864 runs in 68 matches and 113 innings at an average of 54.80, with 20 centuries and 18 fifties. His best score was 254*. Overall across the world, he was ranked fourth as a batter among Test captains, with South Africa’s Graeme Smith (8,659 runs in 109 Tests with 25 centuries), Australian Allan Border (6,623 runs in 93 Tests with 15 centuries) and Ricky Ponting (6,542 runs in 77 Tests with 19 centuries) ahead of him.

Nearly half of Virat’s runs came in away conditions, scoring 2,900 runs in 36 Tests at an average of 46.77, with 10 centuries and 12 fifties in 63 innings. His best score was 200. This is the highest by an Indian batter in away conditions as a captain. In SENA conditions too, Virat topped the charts for India as a captain and batter, scoring 2,105 runs in 23 Tests at an average of 47.84, with seven centuries and nine fifties to his name and best score of 153.

Such excellent records proved that the burden of leading the team did not bother Virat at all and he was always at his best as a batter, who was motivated by challenging conditions away from home and wanted India to become a dominant Test force.  Kohli’s seven double-centuries, as captain, is also the highest in Tests, a record which stands to this day.

Virat was a man of all people on the field, but he really loved his fast bowlers. Under him, India developed and refined a crop of successful fast bowlers like Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, to name a few, who had the game and belief to take 20 wickets no matter what conditions or country. Not willing to give his batting a lot of cushion, Virat preffered playing five specialist bowlers mostly, no matter what.

Under Virat, away from home, Indian team took 20 wickets on 22 occasions out of possible 35 occasions. Since 1990, no other Indian team, than a Virat-led outfit, had a bowling average of less than 30 and a strike rate of below 60 collectively. Kohli’s bowlers struck gold every 52 balls and averaged just around 25 runs per wicket.

In comparison, the star-studded bowling attack of Australia under Ricky Ponting averaged 29.9 and took wickets every 58 deliveries. Six Indian bowlers picked up 100 or more wickets under Virat, with spinner Ravichandran Ashwin topping the charts with 293 scalps. Only Dale Steyn (347 wickets) under Graeme Smith has more wickets.