In a shocker of a news, Virat Kohli stepped down as India's Test captain on Saturday (January 15). This came as a big news for Indian cricket fans as Virat has relinquished T20 and ODI captaincy. The South Africa Test series was the last series for the Delhi-born player as captain where Team India lost 1-2. No Indian captain could do what Virat did in his stint as India's Test captain, not even MS Dhoni. Virat took the Test captaincy's baton from Dhoni back in 2014 when the latter said goodbye to his Test career. But what happened after that was written in golden letters. Yes, under the captaincy of Virat, Team India scaled to the optimum height and achieved glory.
Virat's captaincy and amazing Team India
Under Virat Kohli's leadership, the team topped the ICC Test Rankings, and also qualified for the final of the ICC World Test Championship for the first time. When Virat got the captaincy from Dhoni, Team India was seventh in the ICC Test rankings, but this did not make any difference to the tenacious Kohli and he went on to defeat every opponent with his aggressive captaincy and made India the champion team from home soil to overseas. Virat conquered every fort which had not been done by any captain till date.
Virat's captaincy record in Tests
Virat lead the side to 68 matches, winning 40, losing 17 and drawing 11 of the test matches. He took India from World no.7 to World no.1 in Test cricket for consecutive 5 years. He revolutionised Indian fast bowling in such a way that Indian bowling today looks more lethal than opposition in foreign tours. Such is his legacy as a captain in test cricket.
Left behind Dhoni and Ganguly
It was the captaincy of Virat in which Team India performed extraordinarily and made every team bite dust. During his captaincy, Virat made many records in his name, while leaving behind former captain Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly. While Virat won 40 out of 68 Test matches, MS Dhoni won only 27 matches out of 60. Apart from this, Ganguly won 21 matches out of 49 Tests while in the lead role. It was Virat under whose captaincy the Men in Blue did not lose a single series at home and won a total of 11. Spearheaded by Virat, India won the series in Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Kohli also has an unfinished business in England as his side led 2-1 before the final Test in Manchester was postponed. No other player has scored more runs than him in Tests during Virat's captaincy.
Most runs in Tests while playing under Virat's captaincy
5864 : Virat Kohli
4310 : Cheteshwar Pujara
3550: Ajinkya Rahane
2397 : Rohit Sharma
2320 : KL Rahul
Led by Virat, India won the Test match by a maximum margin. While playing a Test match against New Zealand in Mumbai in the year 2021, India clinched victory with a record by 372 runs. Beside this, India won by an innings and 272 runs against West Indies in Rajkot in the year 2018. Team India has got both the big victories under the Test captaincy of Virat.
Kohli's also has a feat of having four overseas Test victories in a calendar year. Kohli is the only Indian captain to achieve the feat twice. Incidentally, it was under Kohli's captaincy when India achieved this for the first time as well. India had won Tests in a year at Brisbane, Lord's, Oval and Centurion.
Virat equalled this record in the year 2018 when India started their winning campaign in Johannesburg, Nottingham, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Kohli became the third captain and the first Asian to register a Test win in Centurion. The two captains who had done this before include England's Nasser Hussain in 2000 and Australia's Michael Clarke in 2014. Virat also hold the record of most Test wins by an Asian captain in SENA countries.
