Virat Kohli on the verge of breaking yet another Sachin Tendulkar record

Virat Kohli is breaking records and achieving new milestones regularly. If his purple patch continues against the Australians, then he will surely better another Sachin Tendulkar milestone soon 

Virat Kohli. FilePic

Team India skipper Virat Kohli is going through a purple patch. He is currently number 2 in the ICC Test rankings with 895 points just behind Australian captain Steve Smith.

The Aussie skipper is 38 points ahead of Kohli at 933. It would be an interesting side battle between the two captains when the sides meet to see who emerges on top at the end of the series.

Kohli will also want to go past the 900-mark for the first time in his career.

Virat Kohli and (inset) Sachin Tendulkar. Pics/AFP

Interestingly, if and when Kohli gets past the 900-mark, he will have bettered cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar’s feat of898 points. Kohli has already broken Rahul Dravid’s (892) career high points landmark.

Overall, he’ll be the 31st person to scale the landmark but will only be the second India behind another Indian legend and former captain Sunil Gavaskar, who had 916.

Virat started the last Test match against Bangladesh with 875 points, but record fourth double ton (204) in as many series helped him gain 20 points.

Along with the 28-year-old Delhi lad, his teammates Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be battling it out for the top spot for bowlers during the series vs Australia. Ashwin currently is on top with 887 points, but that’s just 10 points ahead of Jadeja. The duo had picked up six wickets each in the one-off Test against Bangladesh to help the hosts cruise to a 208-run victory.

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin also leads the rankings in the all-rounders list with Jadeja third with 406 points.

Interestingly, if India win the series, then they will end the season as the World No. 1 ranked team in Tests.

India are the top-ranked side and lead Australia by 12 points and will need to avoid a 0-4 or 0-3 defeat to hold on to that ranking.

The Indian cricket team and their fans would be hoping that Kohli and his boys end the long home season with a 4-0 drubbing of the visitors after their dominant wins over New Zealand, England and Bangladesh.

Here are some of the records Kohli has set in recent times. After the one-off Bangladesh Test, he has become the first Indian skipper to win six consecutive Test series between 2015 and 2017 -- one each vs Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh.

Under his leadership, India has registered a sequence of 19 matches without loss, which is the fifth best in Test history next only to West Indies (27 between 1982 and 1984), England (26 between 1968 and 1971), Australia (25 between 1946 and 1951) and Australia (22 between 2005 and 2008).

Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli

Kohli has played 19 Tests without a loss as captain (15 victories and four drawn) and it is an Indian record, obliterating the 18 by Sunil Gavaskar (6 victories & 12 drawn) between January 1976 and January 1980. Kapil Dev had led India in 17 consecutive Tests (4 wins, one tied & 12 drawn) between September 1985 and March 1987.

Kohli, as Test skipper, enjoys winning percentage of 65.21 (15 wins, two defeats and six drawn games out of 23). His percentage is the best among the Indian skippers, who have led in atleast five Tests.

Kohli's splendid tally of fifteen Test wins is the joint second highest number of victories after 23 Tests. Steve Waugh has 17 victories. Ricky Ponting, Michael Vaughan and Kohli have 15 wins each.

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