Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket on Monday (May 12). Here is a look back at his career, through the numbers.
In his 14 years as a Test cricketer, Kohli amassed 9,230 runs – the fourth-highest of any Indian behind Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar. At the time of his retirement, he ranks 19th on Test cricket's all-time list of run-scorers.
He is one of 17 players to record at least 30 Test centuries, the last of those coming at Perth in the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Again, this is the fourth-best among Indian players, behind the same three.
Where he stands clear of his countrymen is when it comes to double centuries – Kohli has reached 200 on seven occasions, more than any other Indian. Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar both managed six of them.
Virat Kohli – double tons in Test cricket
| Score | Opponent | Venue | Date |
| 200 | West Indies | North Sound | 21 July 2016 |
| 211 | New Zealand | Indore | 08 October 2016 |
| 235 | England | Wankhede | 08 December 2016 |
| 204 | Bangladesh | Hyderabad | 09 February 2017 |
| 213 | Sri Lanka | Nagpur | 24 November 2017 |
| 243 | Sri Lanka | Delhi | 02 December 2017 |
| 254* | South Africa | Pune | 10 October 2019 |
Kohli recorded a total of 61 fifty-plus scores in Test cricket – converting 49.2 per cent of them into triple-digit scores. This is the highest among Indians, and the fifth-best in Test history, among players with at least 25 tons.
Kohli played 55 Test matches at home. Out of the 13 Indians to play a half-century of home Tests, his batting average of 55.58 puts him second only to Dilip Vengsarkar (55.59).
In the modern era, Kohli conquered Australia in a way almost no other batter could. During his career, he was the only visiting player to score over 1,000 runs in that country, with 1,542 at an average of 46.72.
Kohli also found immense success in South Africa, traditionally not a happy hunting ground for subcontinent batters. His 891 runs at 49.5 in the Rainbow Nation mean the only two visiting batters in Test history to score more runs at a better average are Wally Hammond and Jack Hobbs – neither of whom toured there after the World Wars.
Most Test runs – visiting batters in South Africa
| Player | Matches | Runs | Average | High Score | Hundreds | Fifties |
| Wally Hammond | 15 | 1,447 | 62.9 | 181 | 4 | 9 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 15 | 1,161 | 46.4 | 169 | 5 | 3 |
| Jack Hobbs | 10 | 982 | 65.5 | 187 | 1 | 8 |
| Ricky Ponting | 11 | 937 | 46.9 | 116 | 3 | 5 |
| Stephen Fleming | 11 | 927 | 46.4 | 262 | 1 | 5 |
| Virat Kohli | 9 | 891 | 49.5 | 153 | 2 | 4 |
| Shivnarine Chanderpaul | 14 | 890 | 37.1 | 109 | 2 | 6 |
| Leonard Hutton | 9 | 842 | 56.1 | 158 | 2 | 4 |
| Brian Lara | 9 | 841 | 46.7 | 202 | 2 | 5 |
| Andrew Strauss | 9 | 826 | 51.6 | 147 | 3 | 2 |
As a Test captain, Kohli scored 5,864 runs – the fourth-highest tally ever. His average of 54.8 is the best among the seven players to have done scored over 5,000 runs as captain. His tally of 40 Test wins as skipper is also the fourth-highest ever.
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