The former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, will play his 100th Test at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, this Friday. Commonly regarded as the run-machine, the 33-year old has never shied away from making his voice heard both in and out of the field. Kohli, who is set is to reach the extra special figure of 100 Tests will become just the 12th Indian to achieve the milestone.
The right-hander, however, has been struggling with form in recent times as he had a forgettable series against the hapless Windies and his form has been only mediocre when taking the longest format into consideration as well. Although a downfall in form has been conspicuous, his stats has been stand out. What better way to celebrate his 100th Test by scoring his much-awaited 71st International century?
BCCI set to allow 50% of crowd for the 100th Test of Virat Kohli at Mohali.#ViratKohli𓃵 #Viratkohli pic.twitter.com/jozj8kcTlr
— RDK𓃵 🇮🇳 (@Goatcheeku_18) March 1, 2022
Keeping in mind the importance of the occasion, Cricwizz brings you a list of the records and stats that the skipper holds and is likely to break in the upcoming Test.
1) 38 runs away
Virat Kohli finds himself 38 runs away from reaching the 8000 runs milestone in Test cricket. If he does manage to score those runs in the upcoming encounter against Sri Lanka, he will become the fourth-fastest Indian to achieve the feat and also become only the 6th Indian to achieve this milestone.
# Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka is the fastest to score 8000 runs, scoring the runs in just his 91st Test match.
2) So close yet so far
The former Indian skipper last scored an International ton back in 2019 against Bangladesh. He is locked in on 70 International tons and is one away from joining the former Aussie legend Ricky Ponting in the list of the most tons. Can Virat Kohli join the legend of the game?
List of players with most International centuries
| Player | Country | International tons |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 100 |
| Ricky Ponting | Australia | 71 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 70 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 63 |
| Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 62 |
Note: Virat Kohli is the only player who is currently among the top 5 players and interestingly he is also the only player to possess an average of over 50 among these players.
3) First Indian to do so?
The run-machine Kohli is also in contention of becoming the first Indian ever to score a ton on the 100th Test match. There are only nine other players who have achieved this feat before in the longest format. Notably, the English skipper Joe Root, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, and Pakistan's great Inzamam-ul-Haq are some of the big names on the list.
# Ricky Ponting remains the only player to score two tons in the 100th Test match ( vs South Africa, 2006)
Let us now take a look at the list of records held by Virat Kohli as skipper in Test cricket.
# Kohli has led team India in 68 Test matches, which is the highest ever for an Indian player. He also holds an incredible record of 40 wins as the skipper of India, which is again the highest by an Indian.
# Virat has a total of seven double centuries under his belt in Tests, which makes him the owner of the record for the most double tons by a captain of a side He is two clear of the Windies legend Brain Lara, who has five.
# The 33-year old also holds the record for the most runs as an Indian captain, with 5864 runs to his name, he is way ahead of the second-best MS Dhoni, who has 3454 Test runs as the Indian skipper.
# Kohli is also just the second player after Greg Chapell of Australia to score a ton in each of the innings on his debut Test as captain. (115 and 141 vs Australia, 2014)
# The right-hander is only the second skipper ever in Test cricket to score consecutive double centuries.
| Score | Team | Venue |
| 213 | Sri Lanka | Nagpur (2017) |
| 243 | Sri Lanka | Delhi (2017) |
Batting records held by Virat Kohli
# Virat Kohli is only one of the three cricketers to score double tons against six different Test-playing nations (Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies). Any guesses on the other two players? Well, it's Kumar Sangakkara and Younis Khan of Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively.
# He is also the first and only Indian to score a century in a Day/Night Test (vs Bangladesh, 2019). The 136 also happens to be the last time the Delhiite scored a century in International cricket.
With a lot at stake and the million-dollar question, can the former Indian skipper score his 71st century on the line, the 1st Test between India and Sri Lanka promises to be an intriguing one. Do stay tuned with Cricwizz as we will bring you the fantasy and prediction articles for the match-up.
