Virat Kohli is currently the 4th ranked Test batsman in the world. He had to miss 3 Tests against Australia owing to paternity leave. The Indian skipper was looking in sublime touch in the pink ball Test before getting run-out in the first innings at Adelaide. Captain Kohli will be looking to set the record straight when he faces England in the 4 Test series.
We at StumpsandBails expect Kohli to break these 6 records in the 4-match Test series against England:
#1 Equal MS Dhoni’s record
Mahendra Singh Dhoni currently holds the record for leading India in the most number of Test matches (60). Virat Kohli has captained India in 56 Tests up until now. He has the chance to equal MS Dhoni’s record when he captains India in all of the 4 matches in this series. It is interesting to note that Kohli holds the highest success percentage as an Indian captain (for captains who have led in more than 10 Tests).
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#2 Equal Ricky Ponting’s record
Ricky Ponting had scored 71 international centuries across formats for Australia in 560 matches. Virat Kohli is one century shy of equalling Ricky Ponting’s record. Kohli has 70 centuries to his name in just 423 games. The Indian skipper made his debut in 2008 and within 13 years has scored 70 centuries. There are high chances of Kohli overtaking Ponting in total centuries scored in this series itself.
#3 Can beat Sir Don Bradman’s record
King Kohli has 27 Test centuries to his name in his 87 Test match career. He is currently tied with Steve Smith as both of them have scored 27 centuries each. Sir Don Bradman had scored 29 Test centuries and there is a possibility of Kohli adding 3 more tons to his name in this series and overtaking Sir Don Bradman’s record.
#4 The run-machine
Virat Kohli has scored 7318 runs from 87 Tests at an average of 53.41. Kohli looks set to overtake other batting legends like Ross Taylor (7379), David Boon (7422), Clive Lloyd (7515), and Mohammad Yousuf (7530) in this series itself.
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#5 Beat Ricky Ponting’s Centuries record
Currently, Virat Kohli and Ricky Ponting are tied at 41 international centuries (across formats) each as captain. With England scheduled to play 4 Tests, 3 ODI’s and 5 T20I’s, there is a high certainty that Kohli will overtake Ponting in the century game too.
#6 Kohli’s Love for England
Virat Kohli has scored 1570 Test runs against England in 19 Tests at an average of 49.06. If Kohli has a fabulous series and crosses the 2000 run barrier against England then he will become only the 3rd Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar (2535) and Sunil Gavaskar (2483) to score 2000 runs against the Brits.
