A look at the records set by Virat Kohli in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli had a sensational series in Australia. He began the series as captain of the team in the absence of MS Dhoni at Adelaide. His last tour in England yielded only 134 runs in 10 innings of the 5 Tests at an average of 13.40 and his highest score being just 39. Pressure was on him. But he came back strong.

In the first Test at Adelaide, in the first inning, he scored 115 runs to take India close to Australia’s first inning total of 517. In the second inning, he took charge of chasing the target of 364 runs and scored 141 at a strike rate of 80.57 and almost took India to one of the greatest Test victories overseas, but the team fell short by 48 runs. In the second Test, MS Dhoni came back as the captain. Kohli didn’t do much with the bat, scoring just 19 and 1 in the two innings at Brisbane.

At Melbourne, the third Test of the series, Kohli along with Ajinkya Rahane shared a great stand of 262 runs and scored 169. In the second inning, he scored 54 and India drew the match. In the fourth Test, Kohli was appointed as the new captain of Indian team after MS Dhoni’s retirement. Kohli scored another century, 147 runs in the first inning and another 46 in the second inning to take India away from losing the game.

Virat Kohli in the series against Australia

Venue	First inning	Second inning	Result
Adelaide	115	141	Lost
Brisbane	19	1	Lost
Melbourne	169	54	Drawn
Sydney	147	46	Drawn

Kohli aggregated 692 runs in eight innings at an average of 86.50 with four 100s. He broke quite a many batting records in this series; let us have a look on them.

Records by Virat Kohli:

First batsman to score centuries in first three innings as captain in Tests

Virat Kohli scored 115, 141 and 147 in his first three Test innings as captain. No other batsman did this. Only two batsmen had scored centuries in first two Test innings as captains – Vijay Hazare (164* & 155) for India and Greg Chappell (123 & 109*) for Australia.

Second Indian batsman to score two centuries in a Test match against Australia

With his twin centuries at Adelaide, Virat Kohli became only the second Indian after Vijay Hazare to score centuries in both innings of a Test match against Australia. Vijay Hazare did it in the 1947/48 tour, also at Adelaide.

Most runs by in a Test series against Australia for India

Virat Kohli’s 692 runs in the series overcame Rahul Dravid’s tally of 619 runs he scored in the 2003/04 tour. Dravid also batted eight innings, but managed only one century and three fifties compared to Kohli’s four centuries and a fifty.

Runs	Batsman	Mat	Inns	Avg	100s	50s	HS	Series
692	Virat Kohli	4	8	86.50	4	1	169	2014/15
619	Rahul Dravid	4	8	123.8	1	3	233	2003/04
494	VVS Laxman	4	7	82.33	2	1	178	2003/04
493	Sachin Tendulkar	4	8	70.42	2	2	154*	2007/08
482	Murali Vijay	4	8	60.25	1	4	144	2014/15

Third most runs for India in any Test series

Sunil Gavaskar is the only one who has scored more runs than Virat Kohli’s 692 runs in a Test series. He scored 774 in his debut Test series in West Indies in West Indies in 1970/71 while he scored 732 against the same opposition when they toured to India in 1978/79.

Runs	Batsman	Series	Mat	Inns	Avg	100s	50s	HS
774	Sunil Gavaskar	WI in WI, 1970/71	4	8	154.8	4	3	220
732	Sunil Gavaskar	WI in Ind, 1978/79	6	9	91.5	4	1	205
692	Virat Kohli	Aus in Aus, 2014/15	4	8	86.5	4	1	169
642	Dilip Sardesai	WI in WI, 1970/71	5	8	80.25	3	1	212
619	Rahul Dravid	Aus in Aus, 2003/04	4	8	123.8	1	3	233
602	Rahul Dravid	Eng in Eng, 2002	4	6	100.33	3	1	217

Fifth most runs by an Indian captain in a Test series

Runs	Captain	Series	Mat	Inns	Avg	100s	50s	HS
732	Sunil Gavaskar	WI in WI, 1978/79	6	9	91.5	4	1	205
500	Sunil Gavaskar	Eng in Ind, 1981/82	6	9	62.5	1	3	172
496	Rahul Dravid	WI in WI, 2006	4	7	82.66	1	4	146
470	Sunil Gavaskar	Pak in Ind, 1979/80	5	9	58.75	1	2	166
449	Virat Kohli	Ind in Aus, 2014/15	2	4	112.25	3	0	147

Kohli scored 449 runs as captain in the series, but only in 2 Tests. His tally is the fifth highest for any Indian captain in a Test series.

Most number of centuries in Test series for India

Virat Kohli’s four centuries in the series is the joint second record for the highest number of centuries in any Test series and joint highest for India. Sunil Gavaskar is the only other Indian to score four centuries in a Test series. He did it twice.

4 100s – Sunil Gavaskar vs West Indies in West Indies, 1970/71

4 100s – Sunil Gavaskar vs West Indies in India, 1978/79

4 100s – Virat Kohli vs Australia in Austraila, 2014/15

The record for the most number of centuries in a Test series is 5 by Sir Clyde Walcott for West Indies against Australia in 1955.

Fourth highest number of Test 100s by a visiting batsman in Australia

100s	Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Avg	50s
9	Jack Hobbs (Eng)	24	45	2493	187	57.97	9
7	Wally Hammond (Eng)	19	35	1981	251	61.90	4
6	Herbert Sutcliffe (Eng)	14	25	1529	194	63.70	7
6	Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)	20	38	1809	241*	53.20	7
5	Sunil Gavaskar (India)	11	19	920	172	51.11	1
5	Clive Lloyd (WI)	20	36	1616	149	48.96	9
5	David Gower (Eng)	24	45	1824	136	44.48	8
5*	Virat Kohli (Ind)	8	16	992	169	62.00	2

Second highest number of Test 100s by an Indian against Australia

11 – Sachin Tendulkar

8 – Sunil Gavaskar

6 – VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli

4 – Gundappa Viswanath, Murali Vijay

Most number of 140+ scores in a Test series against Australia in Australia

3 – Wally Hammond, Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook, Virat Kohli