Virat Kohli vs Shubman Gill - comparing their stats in Test cricket before being named captain
Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma have retired from Test cricket, and a new era for Team India in whites is set to begin under the leadership of Shubman Gill. Gill was announced as the new captain of the Indian Test team ahead of their upcoming tour to England, where they will play five matches.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli led India for the first time in Tests in 2014 against Australia at the Adelaide Oval before taking over as full-time captain in early 2015. He went on to captain in 68 games in the format, winning 40 with a win percentage of 58.82%. Kohli is also India's most successful Test captain.
Shubman Gill, taking on a huge responsibility, will have large shoes to fill and a big legacy to carry forward. Let us compare the batting stats of Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill in Test cricket before they were named captains.
Virat Kohli vs Shubman Gill comparison before being named Test captain
#1 Most runs
Virat Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies in 2011 and led in the format for the first time in 2014 in Australia. Kohli had played 29 Tests between the two games, making 1855 runs from 51 innings. Overall, he played 123 Tests and scored 9230 runs in whites.
Shubman Gill, meanwhile, has played 32 Tests so far, with the 33rd set to be his first as Test captain. He has batted in 59 innings and has scored 1893 runs. Gill is marginally ahead of Kohli but has played three Tests and eight innings more.
#2 Average & Strike rate
Virat Kohli ended his Test career with an average of 46.85 and a strike-rate of 55.57 from 123 Tests. Before captaining the side for the first time, having played 29 Tests, Kohli had an average of 39.47 and a strike-rate of 50.07.
On the other hand, Shubman Gill, who has played 32 Tests in his career for India, has an average of 35.05 and a strike-rate of 59.92 so far.
While Gill has a better strike-rate, Kohli had a slightly higher average than Gill despite having played fewer games.
#3 Most 50+ scores in a winning cause
Virat Kohli finished his Test career with 31 hundreds and 30 half-centuries. Out of these, 14 tons and 16 half-centuries came in wins, while nine hundreds and five fifties came in draws. In his 29 Tests before captaining the team, he scored six hundreds and nine fifties, out of which two hundreds and three fifties came in wins.
Shubman Gill, in his 32 Tests so far, has scored five hundreds and seven fifties. Out of these, four hundreds and three fifties have come in wins while one hundred and two fifties have come in draws.
#4 Home and Away record
In his entire Test career, Virat Kohli scored a total of 4336 runs at home with 14 hundreds and 13 fifties, while he made 4894 away runs with 16 hundreds and 18 fifties.
Before captaining the team for the first time, he had played 13 home Tests and 16 away Tests, scoring 859 and 996 runs, respectively. Kohli had scored six fifties and three hundreds at home, while he had three fifties and as many hundreds away.
Shubman Gill has played 17 Tests at home and 15 away so far. He has scored 1177 runs with four hundreds and five fifties at home, whereas he has made 716 runs away with one hundred and two fifties.