Virat Kohli's top 5 achievements as Test captain

Virat Kohli, among the greatest cricketers to have played the game, announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday, May 12. Kohli made his Test debut back in 2011 against West Indies and went on to play 123 matches in his career.

While he did establish himself among the top batters in the format across the globe, what made Virat Kohli more special to Test cricket was his captaincy. When MS Dhoni hung up his boots midway during the Australian tour in 2014, Kohli was handed over the reins.

Kohli has taken India to incredible heights in Test cricket, playing a major role in reigniting the passion and love for a dying format, making him an iconic figure as far as the purest format of the game is concerned.

He is India's most successful Test captain till date, with the most number of wins. He led India to 40 wins from 68 games with the highest win percentage of 58.82%. Overall, he played 123 Tests and scored 9230 runs at an average of 46.85 with 30 hundreds and 32 fifties.

On that note, let us look back at some of his top achievements as the captain of the Indian Test team.

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#5 Virat Kohli has the most runs as an Indian Test captain

Virat Kohli has scored the most runs as an Indian Test captain. He led India in 68 Tests and scored 5864 runs at an average of 54.80 with 20 hundreds and 18 half-centuries. The likes of MS Dhoni (3454), Sunil Gavaskar (3449), and Mohammad Azharuddin (2856) are all behind Kohli in terms of runs scored as India's Test captain.

Moreover, Kohli is fourth on the list of most runs scored by Test captains overall. He finishes only behind South Africa's Graeme Smith (8659), Australia's Allan Border (6623) and Ricky Ponting (6542) on this list, among the most successful captains with the bat.

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#4 First captain to score twin centuries on debut

Virat Kohli captained India in the first Test of the Australia tour in Adelaide in 2014 in the absence of MS Dhoni. In this game, he became the first captain to score twin centuries on debut as Test skipper.

In the first innings, Kohli made 115 runs off 184 balls, hitting 12 boundaries in his knock, which helped India get to 444 after Australia had posted 517/7 declared earlier. In the second innings, he walked out with the same intent, scoring 141 runs off 175 balls as India were chasing 364 for a win. India came close but were bowled out for 315, losing by 48 runs, when it looked like Kohli would take them home till he was out there.

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#3 Leading India to the final of the first ever World Test Championship

The first time the World Test Championship was introduced, India played in the final, reaching there under the leadership of Virat Kohli. During the 2019 to 2021 cycle, India finished at the top of the World Test Championship standings with 12 wins from 17 games and 520 points.

The final was played between India and New Zealand in Southampton. Unfortunately for India, they lost the final as New Zealand, who won by eight wickets, became the champions of the first-ever World Test Championship.

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#2 First-ever Test series win in Australia in 2018-19

India recorded a historic series win against Australia during the 2018-19 Border Gavaskar Trophy. India played Australia in a four-match Test series in Australia and went on to win the series 2-1. The final Test in Sydney was drawn due to rain on the final day, which denied India a 3-1 series win.

Nonetheless, it was a historic series win as this was the first time that India won a Test series against Australia on Autralian soil. The incredible feat came under the leadership of Virat Kohli, who became the first Indian captain to lead India to a Test series win in Australia. India also became the first Asian team to have achieved this milestone.

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#1 Most Test wins away from home

Virat Kohli has played a massive role in shifting the perspective towards India's Test team. While they were seen as home bullies for long, India began winning games away from home as well under Kohli's captaincy, challenging the top teams in foreign conditions.

Away from home, Kohli led India to 16 wins from 36 games, which is the most by an Indian captain till date, surpassing the previous record of 11 wins by Sourav Ganguly. These include special and big wins in Australia, England and South Africa. He also led India to two wins in South Africa as a captain, being the only one to achieve this feat.