Most runs by Indian captain on an away tour

Such has been the form of India's skipper Virat Kohli that every time he steps out with a bat in his hand, he either breaks records or sets new benchmarks.

The Pink ODI at the Bullring in Johannesburg was a testimony to it as Kohli, en route to a pristine 75 that included a Brobdingnagian six over long-on to Lungi Ngidi, broke the record of most runs by an Indian captain on an away tour, previously held by 'The Wall' Rahul Dravid who accumulated 645 runs on the historic tour of the Caribbean that saw India win a Test series in the island after Ajit Wadekar's team of 1971.

On that note, here's a compilation of most runs scored by an Indian skipper in an away tour.

#5 Sunil Gavaskar in Pakistan, 1982-83 (527 runs in 9 matches including a hundred)

The 1982-83 tour of Pakistan wasn't a good one for the Men in Blue but their skipper for the Test matches Sunil Gavaskar made it a memorable one for himself, thanks to his superlative performances.

India toured their arch-rivals Pakistan for a six-match Test series sandwiched between four one-days of which Kapil Dev was the skipper. India headed into the first Test at Lahore, a game that, albeit a tame draw, turned out to be a statistician delight.

Zahir Abbas en route to a pristine 215 scored his 100th First Class century that helped Pakistan to 485 in their first innings. But the moment of the match arrived when India's skipper Sunil Gavaskar became only the fifth cricketer to cross 7,000 Test runs, en route to 83, a feat previously achieved by only Boycott, Cowdrey, Hammond and Sobers.

Gavaskar's form that accounted for 527 runs including a sublime 127 in the 2nd innings of Faisalabad Test couldn't save India from the ignominy of a 0-3 loss in the Test series, however the record he accumulated as an Indian skipper remained at the top of the pedestal until Mohammed Azharuddin broke it in England, 1990.

#4 Mohammed Azharuddin in England, 1990 (544 runs in 5 matches including two hundreds)

Mohammed Azharuddin's batting, when in full flow, was like a poetry. His lazy elegance coupled with immaculate wrists established him as one of the most stylish players from the subcontinent.

It was mainly Graham Gooch who stole all the limelight with his astounding triple hundred (333) at Lord's in India's tour of the English in 1990, however, Azhar managed to do the impossible: he upstaged the triple hundred with a pristine hundred (121) full of wristy flicks and the typical subcontinent shenanigans.

The innings couldn't prevent a loss for the tourists, but it laid the forbearance of what was to come in the succeeding matches. Azhar scored another hundred (179), an innings full of valour and resilience that helped draw the second test. In the five matches of the tour, Azhar scored an outstanding 544 runs that included two centuries, his best score being 179.

#3 Virat Kohli in Sri Lanka 2017 (573 runs with two hundreds)

Virat Kohli returned to the island nation in 2017, a place where he started his international career nine years ago, and he made it memorable with both his bat and also the results that ensued.

While he had a sub-standard Test series according to his standards but he quickly made amends in the limited-overs leg of the tour with a sublime 82 in the first game followed by a pristine 131 off 96 balls that deflated the Sri Lankans into submission as India amassed 5-375 in their fifty overs.

Kohli was at it again in the fifth match when he scored his eighth ton against Sri Lanka and 30th overall. Virat maintained his superlative form in the one-off T20 too as his 82 helped India register a 9-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka across formats. In totality, he scored 573 across nine fixtures with three superlative tons.

#2 Rahul Dravid in West Indies, 2006 (645 runs in 9 matches including 2 hundreds)

The 2006 India tour of the Caribbean islands was historic for Rahul Dravid. Firstly he became the first Indian skipper to win a Test series in the West Indies after 1971 and secondly on the personal front when he surpassed Mohammed Azharuddin for accumulating highest runs as skipper on an away tour.

The tour didn't start all that well for the Men in Blue as after clinching the first one day, engineered on the tenacity of Rahul Dravid who scored a magnificent 105 off 102, went on to lose the next four matches and eventually the series 1-4. However, the Test series saw a different Team India with their captain leading from the front.

India came within one wicket of winning the first Test at Antigua, only to be deprived by a defiant West Indian tail. The second Test at the Gros Islet too was a gripping affair that went down to the last ball.

West Indies came hard at the Indians in the third Test at St Kitt's with Darren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan notching up big hundreds that propelled the hosts to 581 in the first innings, but Brian Lara's decision of not enforcing the follow-on after they had bowled India out for 362, allowed the Indian batsmen to bat out the final day to salvage a draw.

That meant the series was reduced to a one-match shootout, scheduled to be played at Kingston, Jamaica to decide the ultimate winner. On a pitch expected to offer prodigious seam and bounce, Dravid won the toss and decided to bat first. He found himself marking his batting guard in the opening hour with the score reading 2/2.

That soon became 34/3 as Jerome Taylor and Corey Collymore made further inroads. Dravid looked a class apart from his contemporaries as he compiled an awe-inspiring 81 off 215 deliveries to control India's falling innings.

Dravid's innings helped India post 200, which proved to be extremely decisive as the tourists bowled the West Indies out for 103, getting a significant lead of 97 runs in the process. The legendary batsman wasn't done yet as he again found himself at the crease at 6/2, with Taylor nipping out the Indian openers.

With Laxman, Yuvraj and MS Dhoni following suit, Dravid(68 off 166 balls) completed an encore of his first innings and helped his team set up what would eventually turn out to be a series-winning target. Sreesanth and Anil Kumble completed the proceedings for India in the fourth innings as the latter's haul of 6/78 bowled the West Indies out for 219.

The win built on the perseverance and grit of Rahul Dravid broke the 25 years drought of a series win in the Carribean. Indeed a jewel in the crown of Indian Cricket, Dravid scored a total of 645 runs on the tour which included two hundreds but his best knock came in adverse conditions of the fourth Test where his tenacious knock of 68 in the third innings helped India seal the series 1-0.

#1 Virat Kohli in South Africa 2018 (679* runs as of 9th February 2018 including three hundreds)

The tour of the rainbow nation is proving to be another silver lining in Virat Kohli's magnanimous career. Ever since the twin failures in Cape Town (5 & 28), Kohli came back roaring and registered the only hundred (153) by a batsman on either side. Nevertheless, Kohli's best knocks came in both the innings at the Bullring. A counter-attacking 51 in the first innings of the third Test, Kohli's innings coupled by 41 in second laid the cornerstone of one of the most famous Test wins for India. Kohli finished the series as the highest run-getter from either side, accumulating 286 runs at a healthy average of 47.67.

The Indian skipper maintained his form to devastating effects in the one-day leg of the tour. In a country where he hadn't previously scored a hundred, he responded with two, one of which came in a run-chase at Durban and the other where he scored (160), almost more than fifty percent of his team runs.

Kohli has scored a mind-boggling 393 runs in four innings at an average of 197.5, swelling his overall tally of the tour to 679* runs and with four games on the sojourn still to be played, a thousand runs by an Indian skipper in an away tour looks a distinct possibility.