Top 5 Test wins under Virat Kohli
India's enigmatic skipper Virat Kohli might have been in charge of the Indian Test team for only a little over three years, but he has certainly seen an ascent in his leadership credentials, that has sent him soaring to the statistical captaincy heights of the likes of Ricky Ponting and Lloyd and the character equivalences with the likes of Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly.
Ever since he stood in as the skipper for the Adelaide Test in 2014, it became absolutely crystal clear that he had a penchant for winning games by means of leading by example. Although he fell tragically short of carrying his side to a memorable win in that match, he has more than made up for it in his full time regime.
Like a traditional Indian skipper, he has made the best use of his spinners on the way to leading the side to the ICC number one ranking in the format. What has stood out is his support for the fast bowlers, even on the flaccid subcontinental tracks.
Tactically sound, his attacking mindset has done wonders to the side, harnessing the potential out of the likes of KL Rahul and Umesh Yadav. The pair have flourished with their typical aggressive style of play, and to add to that there has been the recent resurgence of Hardik Pandya.
Let us look at the five best triumphs that have come with Kohli calling the shots in the side, as India stare with hope to engineer a remarkable come from behind win in the series.
#5 Beat Sri Lanka by 117 runs at Colombo, 2015
In his first Test series as the skipper of the side, Kohli found the hard tasks of the format creep up to him at a shocking pace as a new look Indian side went into the third Test of the series with the scores locked in at 1-1. India had the chance to beat Sri Lanka in their fortress for the first time in 22 years, but also face the harrowing fear of having to lose yet another series to a relatively lower ranked side.
Batting first, the Indian batsmen floundered against the heat of the home seamers and it took a special effort, by Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 145, to carry India to a score of 312.
It was then left to the visiting fast bowlers to dish out some payback, led by an Ishant Sharma five-fer, and penetrative bowling by Umesh Yadav and Stuart Binny, bundling out Sri Lanka for only 201.
Like a teasing pendulum, the hosts struck back and had India reeling at 4/64, with the top four back in the hut. Effectively still at 4/175, India weren't exactly in the driving seat.
A lower order rescue with numbers five to nine, all scoring in excess of 35, handed Sri Lanka a target of 386, and even a fighting 110 from skipper Angelo Matthews couldn't prevent Kohli's resilient men from securing a 117 run win.