Chronicle of the King: Test career, in numbers | Number Theory

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As Virat Kohli calls time on Test cricket, there’s a feeling of what could have been. Step past that, remember the craft, passion and the grit, and look under the hood. The numbers will show that as a batsman, Kohli may not have ended up where he promised for the first half of his career. But to those 9,230 runs, add his tenure as the Indian captain for 68 Tests that redrew the possibilities of Indian cricket, and Kohli’s stature as a Test cricketer who defined the times, and embellished the format at large, would be well in place.

Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday. (ANI)

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Chronicle of the King: Test career, in numbers

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  Highs and lows

  Kohli walks away from Tests matches ranked 19th in terms of runs scored in test matches, but a significantly lower 29th in terms of batting average. Among batsmen above him on runs, only Alistair Cook and Hashim Amla ended with a lower average. Among Indians, he ranks fourth on runs scored. For an A-lister, and one of the fittest to have ever played the game, his retirement from test cricket comes at a relatively young 36. The top three run-getters were 38-40 years when they played their last Test. While Kohli’s productivity in Tests has declined, the feeling was that he wasn’t done . Between 2012 and 2024, he averaged about 700 runs a calendar year. There were highs: between 2016 and 2018, he averaged about 1,200 runs a year. And there were lows: since 2020, he averaged just 400 runs. Theoretically, at his career average of 700 runs a calendar year, another three years would have seen him rise to number 11 in runs scored.
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  Boon of captaincy

  Kohli’s impact in Test cricket was not just that as a premier batsman. There was also his impact as a captain, which was immense, resetting Indian cricket in significant ways. The additional responsibility of leadership over a long period is where he makes a case to separate himself from most among this elite group of 19 leading run-getters. All these 19 batsmen captained their country in tests. With 68 tests, Kohli is number four by number of tests captained, after Graeme Smith of South Africa, and Allan Border and Ricky Ponting of Australia. His winning record of 59% is the third-best after Steve Waugh and Ponting. Ever the pressure seeker, the added responsibility of captaincy saw Kohli blossom as a batsman. His batting average as a captain is 17 runs more than as a player (54.80 versus 37.40) — the second-highest differential in this set, after Steve Smith.
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  Fourth among equals

  As batsmen, and captains, Kohli and Smith would be often spoken of in the same sentence, along with Joe Root of England and Kane Williamson of New Zealand. Each played their first test between 2010 and 2012. Each was prolific in amassing test runs. Each led their country while being its main batsman. While Steve Smith was always a cut above in terms of runs scored and averages, the other three jockeyed for position. Between his test number 69 and 82 (August 2018 and October 2019), Kohli leapfrogged both Root and Williamson on runs and averages. He was 31 then, and setting a pace for the summit of run-getters. But the law of averages caught up. On both runs and averages, Kohli finishes below the other three. But as captain, he’s led in more tests and ended with better results than them.
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  Template for wins

  For Indian cricket, his captaincy was a progression from Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni. Under Kohli, and manager Ravi Shastri, India played an aggressive brand of cricket and chased wins. Along with spinners, a long pipeline of fast bowlers also came into their own. Of the 27 test series under Kohli, India won 17, with Kohli the batsman in prime form. Kohli ended up with more tests captained than any other male Indian cricketer, and the best winning record. Once he relinquished captaincy, Kohli wanted a second wind for his batting. In a sense, he would have liked his batting to follow the arc taken by one of his contemporaries, Joe Root. Since a weary Root gave up captaincy in April 2022, he’s averaged 57 per innings with 11 hundreds. That wasn’t to be -- and as he retires from Tests, it is difficult for cricket fans to not wonder at the possibility of what might have been.