With Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as Test captain, the era of a captain who has given the Indian team unparalleled success and achieved an enviable record in all formats comes to an end. It marks the turning point in India’s Test history marked by unforgettable victories on foreign soil, great dominance, and an excellent team of fast bowlers who worked tirelessly.
With Kohli’s uncompromising and aggressive leadership, India topped the Test rankings. But looking beyond emotion, the numbers tell a story that is not very different from what is seen with the naked eye. It proves that Virat Kohli is a great Indian captain and one of his contemporaries.
In terms of success rate, Kohli is far ahead of his contemporaries. He has led India in 68 matches, which includes 40 wins, 17 losses, and 11 draws. The pass percentage is 58.82. As per these statistics, he is far better than Joe Root (44.26), the only Test captain to be compared to Kohli today.
Of the captains who have led the team in at least 50 matches, only Steve Waugh (50.98%) and Ricky Ponting (62.33%) have a better winning percentage than Virat Kohli. Kohli, who has led India in 68 matches, is the sixth most capped player in Test cricket. Only Graeme Smith, Alan Border, Stephen Fleming, Ricky Ponting, and Clive Lloyd have played more matches for their team as Test captains.
Kohli is the most successful Indian Test captain. His predecessors were Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni – who helped India to record great victories and significant numbers as Test captains. But compared to Kohli’s achievement, those figures are lagging behind.
Dhoni has led India in 60 matches. The success rate was 45 percent. Ganguly’s winning percentage was 42.85, leading India to victory in 21 of the 49 matches he led. Mohammad Azharuddin and Sunil Gavaskar, who led India in 47 matches, scored 29.78 and 19.14 respectively.
The ability to lead from the front is the hallmark o Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Kohli was a great batsman for the Indian team, replacing the long drought of the last two years.
As a Test captain, Kohli has scored 20 Centuries. He is the second highest-scoring captain after South Africa’s Smith (28). He also scored seven double centuries. This is the highest of all captains. His 5864 Test runs as captain is the fourth-highest by any player
Virat Kohli leads India to 24 home Test victories. He is the third most successful player in the world after Ponting (29) and Smith (30).
When India won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018-19, Virat Kohli became the first Asian captain to win a series in Australia. And then the best wins in England.
Kohli formed a great partnership with Ravi Shastri as he played fearless cricket across all formats and raised an admirable winning ratio. His decision to step down as Test captain came shortly after India’s loss against South Africa – the recently concluded Test series in January 2022.
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