It is nine years to the day ever since India captain Virat Kohli made his Test first appearance at the age of 22.

Kohli contributed just 19 runs in the two innings of his Test bow in a victory against West Indies at Sabina Park, twice snared caught behind by Fidel Edwards.

The stylish batsman soon shed the ‘one-day specialist’ tag, though, and has since it was established himself as one of the top players in the world in all formats.

Almost at the same level as the Tendulkar 

The great Sachin Tendulkar is comfortably the highest Test run-scorer of all time with 15,921 and Kohli will not pose a threat to his record.

However, Kohli could soon be improving his legendary compatriot’s average of 53.78.

The India skipper averages 53.62, scoring 7,240 runs from his 145 knocks, with Tendulkar having recorded his incredible average from a mammoth 329 innings.

A Double no Trouble

Only three batsmen have scored more Test double centuries than India’s superstar middle-order craftsman.

Kohli has seven to his name and achieved two in as many matches in a series against Sri Lanka in 2017.

Don Bradman (12), Kumar Sangakkara (11) and Brian Lara (9) are the only players to have scored more Test double-hundreds.

Top by Example

Taking on the captain’s duties has proved to be a burden for some players of the years, but that is certainly not the case with Kohli.

Quite the opposite, in fact, as the 31-year-old has flourished since taking on the extra responsibility of leading his country,

Kohli, skipper in all formats, has the record for most runs as India captain and there will no doubt be plenty more to come.

He has averaged 61.2 from 90 Test knocks as captain compared to 41.1 in 55 innings before taking on the duties.

Cemented among ‘the big three’

Some rate Kohli as the best Test batsman in the world, but the rankings show Australia run machine Steve Smith has that mantle.

Kohli can boast a higher career-best score than Smith and New Zealand’s run-machine captain Kane Williamson, with an unbeaten 254 against South Africa last year.

He also has the most centuries with 27, but Smith has just one fewer and has played 13 fewer Tests.

A joy to watch when at his majestic best, Kohli also has a better strike rate than Smith (55.3) and Williamson (51.6) with 57.7 runs per 100 balls. 

Home comforts

Kohli has treated packed crowds in his home country to many unforgettable masterclasses over the years.

Virat Kohli (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian cricketer who currently captains the India national team. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has been the team’s captain since 2013. Since October 2017, he has been the top ranked ODI batsman in the world and is currently 2nd in Test rankings with 886 points. Among Indian batsmen, Kohli has the best Test rating (937 points), ODI rating (911 points), and T20I rating (897 points).

Kohli captained India Under-19s to victory at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. After a few months later, he made his ODI debut for India against Sri Lanka at the age of 19. Initially having played as a reserve batsman in the Indian team, he soon established himself as a regular in the ODI middle-order and was part of the squad that won the 2011 World Cup. He made his Test debut in 2011 and shrugged off the tag of “ODI specialist” by 2013 with Test hundreds in Australia and South Africa. Having reached the number one spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time in 2013, Kohli also found success in the Twenty20 format, winning the Man of the Tournament twice at the ICC World Twenty20 (in 2014 and 2016).

Kohli was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012 and handed over the Test captaincy following Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Test retirement in 2014. In early 2017, he became the limited-overs captain as well after Dhoni stepped down from the position. In ODIs, Kohli has the second-highest number of centuries and the highest number of centuries in run-chases in the world. He holds the world record for being the fastest batsman to 10,000 and 11,000 runs in ODI cricket, reaching the milestones in 205 and 222 innings, respectively. 

Kohli has been the recipient of many awards such as 

• The Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018,
• ICC Test Player of the Year 2018; ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012, 2017 and 2018,
• Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2016, 2017 and 2018,
• He was given the Arjuna Award in 2013,
• The Padma Shri under the sports category in 2017,
• The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honor in India, in 2018,
• Kohli is ranked as one of the world’s most famous athletes by ESPN,
• Kohli is ranked as one of the most valuable athlete brands by Forbes In 2018,
•  Time magazine named Kohli one of the 100 most influential people in the world In 2020,
• Kohli was ranked 66th in Forbes list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for the year 2020 with estimated earnings of $26 million. 
• Virat Kohli is the only cricketer to feature in Forbes.