As Virat Kohli lets go of the Test whites, his 210 innings encompass a start that wasn’t quite meteoric, the somewhat barren run towards the end, and an undisputable purple patch in between.
It’s the superhuman phase that began with his first Test as captain in Australia in 2014, only a year after taking over the No.4 spot from his immediate predecessor . It suggested that he would follow his idol as well as and Sunil Gavaskar, in becoming the fourth Indian to conquer Test cricket’s Mt. 10,000.
But even after his imperious 100-innings stretch, lasting nearly six-and-a-half years, Kohli stopped at 9,230 runs at 46.83, his average regressing from its peak, which began in late 2014.
10k runs/50-plus career average – either one or both were widely expected to be ticked off by the end of Kohli’s career, the predictions coming even before he touched 30 in late 2018. In the 2010s, which began with the final chapters of the Tendulkar saga, Kohli dominated Test cricket with 7,202 runs at 54.97 and 27 centuries.
But the post- lull put paid to those expectations. As the pandemic raged, batting averages slumped across the board, Kohli was among the worst-hit – his 30.72 average was the lowest of all 24 batters who aggregated at least 2,000 runs since 2020.
In retrospect, the boy went hard from zero to zenith in his 20s. And while most batters flourish through their mid-30s, in Kohli’s case, they brought a subdued finish.
Between 2011 and 2018, before his 30th birthday, Kohli notched up 6,331 runs at 54.57. Though eight other batters acquired more runs in their 20s, only Tendulkar (57.58) and Jacques Kallis (57.07) averaged higher. But of the 12 batters who amassed at least 6,000 runs in their 20s, only three made fewer runs in their 30s than Kohli’s 2,899, while none posted a lower average than his (35.79).
It is here that Kohli’s speed dipped in comparison to Tendulkar and Dravid, who maintained a near 50-average in lengthy stints either side of their 30s. Kohli’s exuberant 20s, however, remain in the history books.
An Adelaide initiation as Test skipper in 2014, capped by twin centuries, was also the commencement of a glorious peak that marked two successive 50-innings career-defining quadrants in whites.
As far as 100-innings streaks go, Kohli’s 5,608 runs between his 52nd in Australia 2014 and his 151st against England in 2021 is the 11th-best in history.
Only Tendulkar (5,729 at 62.96) has relished a better 100-innings streak among Indian batters, with Dravid’s 5,560 at 65.61 in a similar range. While Tendulkar and Dravid charted shorter bursts of their best later on, Kohli’s is confined within this specific phase.
It is a period that bore 21 of Kohli’s 30 Test centuries, averaging nearly 60 per outing, and also brought all of his record seven double-centuries for India.
During this time, Kohli’s prowess reached unprecedented levels between career innings no. 80-129 – the 50-knock streak unrivalled among Indian bats. Between September 2016 and December 2018, Kohli plundered 3,309 runs at 71.93 with 13 centuries, five of them converted into double hundreds. 2016 and 2017 defined Brand Kohli in Tests, twice amassing 1,000-plus runs with a 75-plus average, the only batter to do so in consecutive calendar years.
But the protracted degeneration of all things Kohli in the post-COVID era sullied his overalls. Kohli’s fifty-century conversion rate (49.66) finishes third among Test batters who have racked up at least 30 tons, behind Matthew Hayden (50.85) and Younis Khan (50.75). Having made 24 tons and 19 fifties before 2020, Kohli’s conversion rate fell from 55.81 per cent in his first 124 innings to a just-passable 33.33 per cent for six centuries and 12 fifties in 86 outings over the last five years.
For all his iconic overseas hundreds on challenging strips, Kohli ends fifth with 4,894 runs at 41.12 among Indian batters away from home. But it is worth recollecting that Kohli was also among the most prolific accumulators at home. Even as his otherworldly average fell by over 13 runs to 55.58 in the last five years, Kohli remains above all five Indian batters who have scored at least 4,000 runs at home, a testament to his proficiency in the previous decade.
Kohli didn’t wait for a late second wind, like Tendulkar and Dravid, between 36-38 when the giants identically racked up 2,697 runs at averages north of 55.
Records and statistical highs seemed organic, almost a certainty for Kohli in his prime. For his average run in recent times, Kohli has perhaps ceded the statistical crown. 9230/46.85 plateaus his genius at the finish line, but the staggeringly lofty Kohli peak is unmissable, bang in the middle of an inimitable 14-year career.
