In Numbers: How Virat Kohli the batsman has fuelled India's rise in Tests

11 consecutive series win at home! It is not an easy feat. Yes, home conditions always favour the host nation. But the greats of the game have never managed to lead their nation to such a dominating streak under familiar condition. Steve Waugh led his team to 10 such wins. Ricky Ponting was the last captain who emulated the feat. But Virat Kohli's Team India has managed to overhaul the two legendary sides of world cricket to script their own historic streak. And a large share of the credit indeed goes to their incumbent skipper.

Kohli had taken over the captaincy responsibilities in the longest format of the game since December 2014 following the sudden retirement of MS Dhoni. India had by then begun their domineering streak under Kohli's predecessor, winning six games across two Test series. However, India had truly transformed themselves into a powerhouse, building an unbreachable fortress on home turf only under the reign of Kohli. Meanwhile, with the rise of India's dominance in Tests, Kohli has grown into a better batsman in the format as well.

Since Kohli's debut in June 2011 and until the day he was handed the captaincy duties, India played 36 matches, winning 13 and losing 16, with a win percentage of 36.11. During this period, Kohli has scored 2098 runs at an average of 41.13 with 10 centuries. His run contribution has been 14.6. During the same period, India won 11 of their 15 matches at home while losing twice. Kohli contributed 859 runs at 50.02 in 20 innings at home -- third most after Cheteshwar Pujara (1203) and Dhoni (911). He contributed to only 11.19 per cent of the total runs India scored at home.

Virat Kohli

Since December 2014, India won 31 out of 51 matches under Kohli, which implies a win percentage of 60.78. And the skipper has scored 4968 runs during this period averaging 63.69 which is 17.56 per cent of the total runs India scored. Out of India's 51 matches under Kohli, 26 were played at home with India winning 20 and losing only once. Kohli scored 2563 runs in 38 innings at 77.66 -- the highest for an Indian during the period. Under his reign, India scored almost double the amount of runs than the aforementioned period at home and Kohli contributed to 18 per cent of the total runs scored.

Overall, Kohli's 4968 runs have been the most that any Indian skipper has scored in Tests and it presently stands sixth in the all-time list headed by Graeme Smith (8659 runs). And his home tally of 2563 runs have also been the most scored by an Indian skipper at home and it stands seventh in the all-time list headed by Ponting (3555 runs).