On this Day: Virat Kohli stepped down as India's Test Captain, here's looking at his captaincy records

Virat Kohli (Source: Twitter)

Star India cricketer Virat Kohli is touted as one of the greatest batters of the modern era of cricket. The star batter has scored runs with mind-boggling consistency across formats which helped him earn the title of best batter in the world across formats. Other than his batting exploits, Kohli also had a successful run as the captain of the Indian team. Though he failed to win a major title in the limited-overs format, his Test record as a captain is ranked among the greats of the game.

Last year, on January 15^th, Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy after India lost the Test series in South Africa by 1-2. The 34-year-old captained the side in 68 Tests where he won 40 and lost 17 with a win percentage of 58.82. Kohli is the fourth most successful captain in the history of Test Cricket and has the third-best win percentage.

One year ago 💔
He stepped down as India's test captain. #Viratkohli The whites are dull without you as a captain 😐 https://t.co/ZjtN7aAhso

— Sachin Viratian🇮🇳 (@asmylemalhotra1) January 15, 2023

Kohli took over the reins as Test Captain after former Indian captain MS Dhoni retired from Test Cricket on December 30 2014. The Delhi batter took the team from the 7 position in the Test rankings to no 1 in a year and a half time. Under Kohli’s leadership, India won the coveted ‘Test mace’ five times for finishing as the no 1 Test team in a particular year.

As a leader, Kohli was called a bowler’s captain which is evident in the statistics of fast bowlers during his tenure. India’s fast bowlers performed exceedingly well and had the best performance for a particular year in 2018 which was only second to the mighty West Indies attack of the 80s. Courtesy of this lethal pace attack, India won their first-ever series in Australia in 2018-19.

Kohli led India to first series win in Australia

Kohli also led India to their first Test series win in Sri Lanka since 1992. When he left the captaincy India were 2-1 ahead in a five-match Test series against England with one match left to be played. The fifth Test was played after Kohli had stepped down and India ended up losing it making the series end in 2-2.

Other than this, Kohli had a phenomenal record as captain at home as India lost just two Tests on home soil during his tenure.

Since Kohli stepped down from captaincy, India has played three Test series with three different captains. It’s been a year, since Kohli left as Test captain but the fans still miss his leadership in whites.