Records Virat Kohli can break in Test series versus England
After heading back from Australia on paternity leave, India's regular captain Virat Kohli will return to action in the upcoming Test series against England. He was recently named in Team India's 18-member squad for the four-Test series, starting February 5. The Indian skipper has an opportunity to break plenty of records in Test cricket. We take a look at the same.
Kohli is already India's most successful captain in Test cricket. So far, he has led India in 56 matches, having won 33 and lost 13 (drawn 10). He broke former Indian captain MS Dhoni's record of winning 27 Tests as captain in 2019. In the impending series, Kohli can also emulate Dhoni's record of leading India in most number of Tests (60).
At present, Kohli owns 11,811 runs (across formats) from 188 matches at an astronomical average of 63.16 as a captain. He also has 41 international tons to his name, joint-most with the legendary Ricky Ponting. With a 42nd hundred, Kohli can completely own this record. Meanwhile, in Test cricket, he has 20 centuries as captain, second after Graeme Smith (25).
Kohli has slammed a total of 27 hundreds in Test cricket. This is the fourth-most by an Indian and joint-most among active cricketers along with Steve Smith. The former could get past the historic tally of Sir Donald Bradman (29), in the series.
As of now, Kohli has scored 7,318 runs from 87 Tests at an incredible average of 53.41. In the four-match series, Kohli can surpass the runs tally of several legends. Some of them are Ross Taylor (7,379), David Boon (7,422), Clive Lloyd (7,515) and Mohammad Yousuf (7,530). If Kohli plays all the four Tests, he could eclipse Dhoni in terms of matches played (90).
Kohli has tallied 1,570 runs from 19 Tests at an average of 49.06 against England. This is the sixth-highest by an Indian batsmen against them in Tests after Sachin Tendulkar (2,535), Sunil Gavaskar (2,483), Rahul Dravid (1,950), Gundappa Viswanath (1,880) and Dilip Vengsarkar (1,589). Notably, Kohli could become only the third Indian with 2,000 Test runs against England.
