Virat Kohli in line to become India’s most successful Test captain

Virat Kohli took over as the skipper of the Indian Test team after MS Dhoni decided to hang his boots from the format after the Melbourne Test back in 2014. At a time when the veteran called it a day, he was the country’s most successful skipper, having captained the national team to victory in 27 Tests out of 60. Moreover, the Jharkhand-born also had the highest win percentage of 45.

Dhoni was way ahead of Sourav Ganguly, who had won 21 out of 49 Tests as the captain. In the meantime, Kohli is on the verge of overhauling Dhoni’s colossal numbers. Presently, the Delhi-born has led India to 27 triumphs in 47 encounters with a win percentage of 57.45, way above than the rest of India’s greats. Under his leadership, India have drawn 10, while losing as many games.

Virat Kohli on the brink of perching at the helm

India is currently in the West Indies, taking part in the two-match Test series. Virat Kohli and Co comprehensively won the opening game by 318 runs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua. The second Test is scheduled to get underway on August 30 at the Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. It’s a chance for Virat to become India’s most successful captain in Tests.

During the first victory, Kohli also went past Ganguly’s tally of most away wins in Tests. Kohli has 12 victories compared to Ganguly’s 11. Dhoni was a tad behind in this aspect, having won only six matches. In his journey as the skipper, Kohli has even flourished as a batsman. As a captain, the 30-year-old has 4,575 runs in 47 matches at an average of 61.82 with as many as 18 centuries under his belt.

In this phase, he also notched six double centuries, the last of which came back versus Sri Lanka in December 2017. Kohli didn’t set the stage of fire in the first Test as he could only manage scores of 9 and 51. The half-century in the second innings helped India set a daunting target of 419 for the hosts to chase down. He’ll now be looking to score big and take his team to a series clean sweep.

Watch: All-time right-handers ODI XI