Virat Kohli scores four centuries in first four Tests as captain

Virat Kohli scored his 11th Test century against Sri Lanka in the first innings at Galle. It was his fourth century as captain in as many Tests. Bharath Seervi lists others who had a similar start to their captaincy career. READ: Virat Kohli’s trial by fire as Test captain begins with tour of Sri Lanka

Virat Kohli, the new captain of Indian Test side, has captained in four Tests and is yet to win one. But he is making his maximum contribution with his batting for the team. He helped his team recover at Galle when India were 28 for 2. He played a captain’s innings of 103 and shared a partnership of 227 with Shikhar Dhawan.  He failed in the second innings and the team failed to chase down a target of 176.

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Kohli has stood as skipper in four Tests and he has scored four centuries in them. He made his captaincy debut in the first Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15 at Adelaide Oval. He scored 115 and 141 in the Test. Unfortunately, the team failed to chase down 364 and lost by 48 runs. MS Dhoni was back for the next two Tests of the series, but announced retirement after the third Test and again. Back in the fourth Test as captain Kohli scored 147 in the first innings, making it three in three innings as captain. He became the first to achieve this. The Test was drawn. READ: Virat Kohli’s approach as captain must change before it is too late

Kohli captained his third Test against Bangaldesh at Fatullah which was heavily affected by the rain. India could bat only once and the Test was drawn. Kohli scored 14. He scored 103 in his fourth Test as captain.

Before Kohli, only two players have done something similar. Sunil Gavaskar also scored four centuries from his first four Tests as captain. But Alastair Cook went one step ahead with five centuries in his first five Tests as captain. Kohli can aim for this record.

Five centuries in first five Test as captain

–          Cook scored centuries in each of his first five Tests as captain. He scored a century in his seventh match as captain as well. He remains the only one to do six in seven as well. READ: The advantage Joe Root and Kane Williamson have over Virat Kohli and Steven Smith

–          All five Tests were away for Cook. In fact, his first nine Tests as captain were all outside England.

Four centuries in first four Tests as captain

–          Unlike Cook, Gavaskar and Kohli did not score centuries in each of their first four Tests as captain.

–          Both Gavaskar and Kohli scored two centuries in one match in their sequence.

–          Both failed in the third Test as captain. READ: Virat Kohli vs Sri Lanka

–          Gavaskar scored two centuries in his fourth Test as captain while Virat Kohli scored two centuries in his first Test as captain.

–          Like Cook, Kohli’s four Tests have been outside India, as will be the next two.

Kohli has the chance to emulate or even go past Cook in scoring centuries in most consecutive Tests since becoming captain. READ: Virat Kohli’s lack of daddy hundreds a worry for India

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)