Stats: Virat Kohli amongst elite company for most wins after 25 Tests
Virat Kohli scripted arguably his best win as captain in the recently concluded second Test against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. For a long period of time, the hosts looked below par as the visitors continued their strong form from the first Test in Pune.
He remained strong and marshaled his troops remarkably well. The Indian skipper later remarked, that while he may be the ‘head of the snake’, this team is more than just about one man. An inspired team performance helped Kohli register his 16th win in his first 25 matches as captain since taking over from MS Dhoni in 2015.
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Despite having eclipsed MS Dhoni’s 15 wins as captain in the same span of time, he lies third in the list, along with England’s Michael Vaughan.
Most matches won after 25 matches as captain -
| Player | Country | Matches | Wins |
| Steve Waugh | Australia | 25 | 18 |
| Ricky Ponting | Australia | 25 | 17 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 25 | 16 |
| Michael Vaughan | England | 25 | 16 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 25 | 15 |
Kohli first assumed captaincy of the Test side against Australia in Adelaide towards the end of 2014 owing to an injury for MS Dhoni. That match would perfectly capture everything one needed to know about him as a skipper. His brash, aggressive tactics, along with his need to lead from the front led to one of the most exciting Tests matches in the game’s history.
Chasing an improbable 364 on the last day, Kohli laid siege to the Australian bowlers in his innings of 141 from 175 balls. While a lesser soul might have settled for the draw, he went gung-ho after the win. India ended up 48 runs short, but the world stood up and noticed.
After MS Dhoni's surprise retirement later in the series, the Delhi-lad took over the captaincy of the Indian Test side at the age of 27. In his first 25 matches, he has been incredibly impressive, both as a skipper and as a batsman.
Full timeline of India’s results with Kohli as skipper (First 25 Tests) –
LOSS: Australia beat India by 48 runs, Adelaide, December 2014
DRAW: India vs Australia, Sydney, January 2015
DRAW: India vs Bangladesh, Fatullah, June 2015
LOSS: Sri Lanka beat India by 63 runs, Galle, August 2015
WIN: India beat Sri Lanka by 278 runs, Colombo (PSS), August 2015
WIN: India beat Sri Lanka by 117 runs, Colombo (SSC), August 2015
WIN: India beat South Africa by 108 runs, Mohali, November 2015
DRAW: India vs South Africa, Bangalore, November 2015
WIN: India beat South Africa by 124 runs, Nagpur, November 2015
WIN: India beat South Africa by 337 runs, New Delhi, December 2015
WIN: India beat West Indies by an innings & 92 runs, Antigua, July 2016
DRAW: India vs West Indies, Jamaica, August 2016
WIN: India beat West Indies by 237 runs, Gros Islet, August 2016
DRAW: India vs West Indies, Port of Spain, August 2016
WIN: India beat New Zealand by 197 runs, Kanpur, September 2016
WIN: India beat New Zealand by 178 runs, Kolkata, October 2016
WIN: India beat New Zealand by 321 runs, Indore, October 2016
DRAW: India vs England, Rajkot, November 2016
WIN: India beat England by 246 runs, Vishakapatnam, November 2016
WIN: India beat England by 8 wickets, Mohali, November 2016
WIN: India beat England by an innings & 36 runs, Mumbai, December 2016
WIN: India beat England by an innings & 75 runs, Chennai, December 2016
WIN: India beat Bangladesh by 208 runs, Hyderabad, February 2017
LOSS: Australia beat India by 333 runs, Pune, February 2017
WIN: India beat Australia by 75 runs, Bengaluru, March 2017
Summary of results for Virat Kohli as captain –
| Matches Captained | Won | Lost | Drawn |
| 25 | 16 | 3 | 6 |