Over the last year or so, India have won five Test series under the captaincy of Virat Kohli: against Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and recently against England. Before the ongoing series India hadn’t won a Test series against England in eight years.
During this winning streak, India equaled their record of winning five series in a row. They had won five consecutive series from 2008 to 2010: against Australia, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh.
The fourth Test win against England in Mumbai was the 17th consecutive Tests in which India have remained unbeaten. They also went 17 Tests without a defeat from September 1985 to March 1987 under captain Kapil Dev, but in that they won only four Tests in 17 matches.
This time in 17 matches, India have won 13 and drawn four.
They have won against South Africa, New Zealand and England in India and against Sri Lanka and the West Indies at their home grounds.
Kohli hasn’t lost a series as a full-time Test captain. He has five wins from 10 matches. In his last six Tests as captain, India have won five.
Kohli asks his players not to be complacent. "That’s why we have won five series in a row," he says.
After scoring 400 runs in the first innings of the fourth Test, England were handed a big defeat, Kohli’s first-innings 235 was the main reason for India’s win.
It was Kohli’s third double hundred in Tests. He has made 640 runs in the first four Tests against England. He is only the second Indian captain to have scored 500 plus runs in a series. The former captain Sunil Gavaskar is the other.
Kohli has replaced Little Master Sachin Tendulkar at No 4 successfully. He has already scored 1773 runs in 37 innings at an average of 50.65 with eight hundreds at this position.
In the fourth Test at Wankhede Stadium, Kohli completed 4,000 runs in 89 innings.
He also completed 1,000 Test runs in 2016. He attained this feat in only 11 games, smashing two double centuries. He became only the third Indian captain, after Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and Rahul Dravid (2006), to do so. Kohli is fourth in the list for the most runs made in 2016.
With continuous outstanding performances, Kohli has earned 53 points, reaching the second place in the ICC Test Players ranking, only 11 points behind Australian skipper Steven Smith.
With great performances as a batsman and captain over two years in the Test arena, Kohli has enhanced his credentials as the man who should lead team India in all three formats.
As the 50-over World Cup in England is about two-and-a-half years away, the management must consider this option as MS Dhoni’s availability in the next World Cup is uncertain.
Kohli captained Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013.
Under his leadership in the last IPL edition, till the halfway mark, RCB were just ahead of Kings XI Punjab with only three wins in eight matches, but of the next six games they won five and finished second, qualifying for the final with Hyderabad Sunrisers.
Kohli, named Man-of-the-Tournament, was the most successful batsman of the season with 973 runs, including four hundred and seven fifties with a strike rate of over 160; it was the highest aggregate not only in the IPL but in any T20 tournament worldwide.
He broke the record of 733 runs set by Chris Gayle in 2012 and equaled by Michael Hussey in 2013.
No pitch or bowling attack has ever stopped Kohli from winning matches for India when he is on fire.
After the Pakistan match in World T20 he said that he loved to play under pressure.
If he plays for another 10-12 years, he may surpass many records of Sachin and set some unbreakable records.