Kolkata: Records keep on tumbling as Virat Kohli drove to yet another double century to become a captain with the most double centuries in Test cricket history. He brought his sixth double ton at his home ground Feroz Shah Kotla.
This is his second successive double-ton, having struck 213 in Nagpur in the previous match. In doing so, he joined an elite club of only six batsmen to have achieved this feat in Test history. The only other Indian to have done this is Vinod Kambli, against England and Zimbabwe in 1993. Wally Hammond is the only one to achieve this twice.
Kohli set a new record for most double-centuries by captains in Tests – six – going past Brian Lara who had five. Considering the period between 1932 to 2015, no Indian captain had hit more than one double-century. MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni had hit one each in their time leading the side. Incidentally, since Kohli scored his first double-century – 200 against West Indies in Antigua in July 2016 – no other captain has managed even one.
Having hit no double-century in his first five years of Test career, Kohli has now managed six such double-tons. Until 2015, he had 11 hundreds from 72 innings in 41 Tests with highest score of 169. Since then, within 18 months, 33 innings and 22 Tests, he has converted six of his nine centuries into doubles. He joined Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar to hit six double-hundreds for India.
Kohli emulated Vinoo Mankad to become only the second India batsman to hit multiple double-hundreds in the same series. Mankad had done it in the four-match series against New Zealand in 1955-56. Among captains, Kohli is the fifthto achieve this after Bradman, Graeme Smith, Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke (twice). He also become the first batsman to score three double-centuries each in two years – 2016 and 2017.
Kohli’s 243 in Delhi is his career-best in Tests, going past his 235 against England at Wankhede last year. This was the 14th time he beat his highest score. He began with 4 runs in his debut innings and then improved his scores in this fashion: 15, 27, 30, 52, 63, 75, 116, 119, 141, 169, 200, 211, 235 and 243.
