IND vs SL 2022: 5 records broken by Virat Kohli in Test cricket
Virat Kohli became the 12th Indian player to receive his 100th Test cap earlier today at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali before the 1st Test against Sri Lanka. The former India captain joined some legendary players to have reached the mark.
Kohli made his Test debut back in June 2011 against the West Indies. He did not have a memorable outing, but in the next 98 matches, he changed the face of Indian cricket. The Delhi-based player scored at a furuous pace in red-ball cricket since debuting and became the captain of the team in 2015.
After taking over the team's reins, Kohli took India from number seven to number one in the ICC Test Rankings. He brought about a revolution in fast bowling and fitness as the team captain. Also, he made winning Test matches outside India a normal thing.
With him playing a landmark Test match today, let's take alook at the top five records broken by Virat Kohli in the longest format of the sport.
#1 Highest individual score by an Indian captain
During his remarkable captaincy tenure, Kohli broke MS Dhoni's record for the highest individual score by an Indian captain. He played a 254-run knock against South Africa in 2019 and overtook MS Dhoni (224) on the all-time list.
Kohli became the first batter to cross 250 runs in one innings as Indian captain. He also smashed a historic double century in the West Indies during his regime.
#2 Most matches as Indian captain
Kohli also owns the record for the most matches as Indian Test captain. He made his captaincy debut in 2014 against Australia and was made full-time Test skipper next year.
He led India in 68 Tests, where the nation registered 40 wins, 17 losses and 11 draws. Apart from most matches, Kohli also holds the record for the most wins by an Indian skipper.
#3 Most double hundreds as Test captain
Kohli scored seven double hundreds for the nation during his captaincy tenure. Six of them came at home, while one came against West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
No other captain has scored more than five double hundreds in Test cricket. Former West Indies captain Brian Lara held the record before Kohli with five scores of 200 or more.
#4 Most hundreds by an Indian captain
Virat Kohli surpassed Sunil Gavaskar on the list of most Test hundreds by an Indian captain when he scored his 12th ton while leading the country. He scored eight more before stepping down as captain.
None of the former Indian captains are close to Kohli on this all-time list. It is highly unlikely that this record will ever be broken.
#5 Virat Kohli's men bowled out opponents for under 200 50 times
Test captains under which a team bowled out the opposition for under 200 most times:-
50 - VIRAT KOHLI 🇮🇳
48 - Graeme Smith 🇿🇦
40 - Peter May 🏴
39 - Clive Lloyd 🏝️
36 - Ricky Ponting 🇦🇺
#VK100 #100thTestforKingKohli
#ViratKohli𓃵
twitter.com/i/spaces/1LyxB… https://t.co/x0gTrsU7Td
Virat broke former South Africa captain Graeme Smith's world record for bowling out the opposition for a total of less than 200 the most number of times. Smith did it 48 times as captain.
Kohli surpassed him by accomplishing the feat 50 times during his regime. This is another record that may never be broken.