Virat Kohli, Team India’s ace hitter, was catapulted into a red-ball leadership role following MS Dhoni’s retirement in 2014. Since the veteran wicket-keeper was absent, he led the side in the 2014–15 Border-Gavaskar series opener in Adelaide. However, by the end of the series, Kohli was named the official Test captain.
The right hander had only played 29 Test matches before the Australian tour that changed his career. Following the craziness of the Down Under campaign, Kohli’s first series in charge came after being made captain with a one off Test against Bangladesh in June 2015.
In Australia, after losing the toss in Adelaide and Sydney, Virat Kohli called the right side, and the coin ultimately went in his favor. After choosing to bat first, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar had questioned Kohli on his experience as Team India’s Test captain.
“In Australia it was on and off, but now it is the beginning of a full-time job, so pretty excited, have a great bunch of guys backing me throughout, and hopefully we can put in a strong performance. It was a pretty strange feeling for me when I was announced because I never thought I will be Test captain of India at 26, but now I have his opportunity in front of me, god has been kind, I have worked hard, things have fallen into place, I have the responsibility of doing that job and take the team to the level we want to be at.”
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli’s time as Test captain turned out to be the most prolific period in Indian red ball history. In order to secure success abroad, the captain transformed the team by putting fitness first and updating the fast bowling resources. Under his leadership, India advanced to the finals of the first World Test Championship (WTC), won the 2018–19 Border-Gavaskar series in Australia, and became an even more formidable force at home.
Virat Kohli led India to 40 wins out of 68 Tests as captain
In his first 4 matches as the indian skipper, Kohli did not manage to see his team home. Those two in Australia turned out to be a loss and a draw and that aforementioned clash with Bangladesh, which had formally opened his tenure, ended up being a rain-curtailed draw. The next opener in Sri Lanka also was lost.
But once the first jitters Team India went undefeated for 19 straight Tests. Their next loss was in the 2017 Border-Gavaskar series opener in Pune to Australia. The international career of the Test captain Kohli ended following the 2021-22 away series loss to South Africa. The ace batter called time on his Test career before the England tour and the 2025-27 WTC.
