Forget the mid-40s average, Virat Kohli at his best was among Test cricket's best ever

Across his 14 years of Test cricket, Kohli's batting average was over 50 for a long while – a mark long-considered to be that of great batsmanship. Only thirty-six batters in Test history have managed to score 2,000-plus runs while averaging over 50.

Kohli is not one of them.

When he called time on his career, Kohli finished as India's fourth-highest run-scorer of all time with 9,230 to his name, but a batting average of 46.85. At its peak, this number was as high as 55.1 – after an unbeaten knock of 254 against South Africa in October 2019.

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But the fall over the last half a decade has been steep. After averaging over 50 in each calendar year from 2016 to 2019, this was less than 30 in every year from 2020 to 2025, except for 2023 when he averaged 55.91. This drop-off perhaps diminishes what Kohli's overall record looks like – but at his best, he was almost unmatched.

The prolific 25-innings stretch

Kohli played 123 Test matches. Ten per cent of his career would be 12.3 Tests, roughly approximated to 25 innings. The most productive 25 innings of Kohli's career came between September 30, 2016 and December 2, 2017 – and yielded 1,892 runs.

This 25-innings run is the twelfth-most productive one of all time, and contained five double centuries aside from three other centuries. This run made Kohli one of only nine batters in all of Test cricket to average over 90 for 25 consecutive innings. Kumar Sangakkara is the only other 21st century-debutant to do so.

The 'Bradman' measure: How good was Virat Kohli's Test peak?

For a more comprehensive definition of a 'peak', one can look to Don Bradman – still the benchmark for batting over 75 years since he last played. Bradman's career lasted 80 innings, and he scored 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94.

So what are the best 80-innings streaks in Test history, and where does Kohli rank?

Most productive 80-innings stretches in Test history

For sheer volume of runs, Kohli's peak ranks ninth all-time – yielding 4,761 runs. The names on this list are staggering, and Kohli would be the standout of his era, if not for the other supremely talented batter of his time in Steve Smith.

This run contains six of Kohli's seven Test double centuries. Ironically, the one not in this range is his highest Test score of 254*, which came 11 months and nine innings later.

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Including Kohli, six players have scored seven or more Test double tons. None of them have ever scored them in as little time as Kohli did – in 1,176 days. The first seven of Bradman's 12 double centuries came in the span of 1,484 days. Of course, the Don has Kohli well beat in terms of innings; only 20 between No.1 and No.7, compared to Kohli's 66.

Least time (days) taken to record seven double centuries

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