Is Virat Kohli's Test career starting to go on a downward spiral?

There were just 5 more deliveries left for the close of play on Day 1. Virat Kohli had helped himself to 27, and it looked as if the Indian skipper was set for a ‘big’ score. In fact, when he was batting on 24, Ollie Pope was benevolent enough to grass a straightforward chance that Kohli offered to him at gully.

But then, just 3 overs later, Pope would have been an extremely relieved man. For, a momentary lapse of concentration proved to be Kohli’s downfall. To a delivery from Jack Leach that pitched on off stump, and turned away a fraction, the Indian skipper went for the cut shot, but only managed to chop the ball back onto his stumps. Kohli walked back to the pavilion in frustration. Leach had scalped the big fish.

Virat Kohli’s dwindling returns since the beginning of 2020 in Tests

Since the start of 2020, Kohli’s returns with the willow have plummeted in Test cricket. In the table below, let us take a look at Kohli’s performances on an innings-by-innings basis since the beginning of 2020 in Tests.

From the table, we can see that Kohli has experienced a sharp dip in form since the beginning of 2020. In 8 out of the 11 innings that he has played since the beginning of 2020 in the whites, the Indian skipper has been dismissed for a score of less than 30. He has also recorded 4 single-digit scores in his last 11 Test innings. And surely, these are returns that a batsman of Kohli’s caliber would not be proud of.

2015 to 2019: The Immortalization of the Kohli legend

Between the period 2015 and 2019, the Kohli legend reached its crescendo. In the table below, let us take a look at Kohli’s performances with the willow in Tests in this period.

Woah. Those are just incredible numbers, isn’t it? Between 2015 and 2019, Kohli scored a colossal 4848 runs in Tests at an imposing average of 62.15. Also, he scored 18 hundreds in 84 innings, which means that he scored a hundred once every 4.67 innings during that period. In that 5-year period, he also scored a staggering 7 double centuries.

To put that achievement in some perspective, Sachin Tendulkar scored 6 double centuries in his 24-year career, and Rahul Dravid scored 5 double centuries in his 16-year Test career. Another impressive thing was, Kohli scored hundreds in places as varied as Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and of course, India between 2015 and 2019.

The trough that followed the peak

But then, since 2020, his career has hit a trough. While we looked at Kohli’s innings by innings record in Tests since 2020, let us now look at the same in the form of a condensed table, so that the stark contrast between his run between 2015 and 2019, and his run since 2020 in Tests with the willow will be clearly visible.

From the beginning of 2020, Kohli has scored just 288 runs in Tests, and has not managed to score a hundred in this period as well. Also, he averages a paltry 26.18, which is a humungous 35.97 lower than his average of 62.15 between 2015 and 2019. Also, while he scored a hundred every 4.67 innings in the time period between 2015 and 2019, his century drought since 2020 has now extended to 11 innings.

Has Virat Kohli already peaked in his Test career?

And now, that brings us to a pertinent as well as a frightening question (frightening if you are an Indian fan). Has Virat Kohli already peaked in his Test career? Are his best years with the willow in Test match cricket already behind him? This is a very relevant question, because his fortunes have plummeted badly, and they have plummeted immediately after he experienced the highest peak of his career. There can surely be no better example of the law of averages than what has happened with Kohli’s Test career.

And, let us understand that at the age of 32, Kohli is definitely not getting younger as well. And, it remains to be seen if the Indian batting legend can resurrect his Test career from here on.

Note: All the stats have been taken from Howstat cricket and Cricinfo and have been updated as on 24th February 2021