Virat Kohli :
15th January 2022 marked the end of the Golden era of Indian Test Cricket, as Virat Kohli renounced Test Captaincy. He has played an indispensable role in team India’s success, not only with the bat but also with his mentality and intensity. He has instilled a sense of belief in his teammates and the people of India that this team can challenge and win anywhere in the world, no matter how strong the opposition is, how tough the conditions are. The seeds of fighting spirit and the never-die attitude he has sown have already brought fruit, and we hope they continue to do so in the future as well.
Test Cricket – Test Captaincy :
We know that since Virat Kohli took the reins of test captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2015, India has dominated test cricket at home. In away conditions also, India has garnered huge success in the past few years. But exactly how much better than other teams has Team India been under Virat? We try to answer this question and take an insight into the glorious test captaincy career of our Cheeku. The stats have been obtained from stats guru. All data is for test matches played from 2015 (Virat Kohli’s 1st test as full-time captain) till Kohli’s last test as captain.
Overall Record
India has won the highest number of test matches in this period. If absolute numbers don’t show their consistency, we can see that only India has won a lot more than half of the total matches played.
Perhaps this gives us a better picture. We can clearly see how dominant India is, with an astonishing W/L ratio of 14.29. The next best teams are quite far behind: New Zealand(5.67) and Australia(4.79).
Home/Away Record
This graphic shows a breakdown of the Home and Away records of each team. It again shows that India secured the most number of home and away wins in this time frame.
We always talk about how home teams take unfair advantage of home conditions and dominate ruthlessly. But in a larger context, it is only fair and makes tours exciting as it presents a new challenge each time to the visiting team. Home advantage is there for everybody to take. But as far as cashing in on it is concerned, Team India seems to be the bullies, winning 13 games for each game lost! Once again, New Zealand and Australia are in pursuit but the gap clearly shows how formidable India is at home.
This, right here, is the legacy of King Kohli. In the past 7 years, no other team has been able to achieve this feat, having a W/L ratio of greater than 1 in Away Matches. This side has proven that it is the best equipped to adapt to any kind of surface, overhead conditions, and bowling attack. What started with test victories in South Africa and England has turned into series wins in Australia(twice), England and starting as favourites in South Africa, something which was beyond imagination before Kohli took charge.
Conclusion
After looking at all these records and stats, we can always take pride in what laurels Team India was able to achieve in Test Cricket under Virat Kohli. He was the best Indian Test captain, who led the team and the people to not only hope but also believe that with great passion, full commitment and sheer determination, we can go on and clinch victories wherever we want.
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Author : Namit Pulyani
