As get ready to play Colombo T20I, we gaze into Virat Kohli’s unbelievable record as batsman and captain

By Mahim Gupta

New Delhi: As India get set to play the one-off T20 international in Colombo, the focus is firmly fixed on Indian captain Virat Kohli, who is riding as high as no other cricketer.

India have swept Sri Lanka 3-0 in the Test series and 5-0 in the ODI series and now will look to make it 9-0 on Wednesday for which they will need to win the T20 match.

The 9-0 feat has been achieved only once, in 2009-10, when Australia playing at home, swept Pakistan, 3-0 in the Test series, 5-0 in the ODI series and 1-0 in the one-off T20.

But coming back to Kohli, it is really interesting to crunch his numbers, both as batsman and captain. There are two eye-popping feats that stand out, making him one of the very best in both regards.

First up, Kohli the batsman, the Indian skipper has the rare distinction of being the only batsman to average over 50 (52.96 after 49 matches) in T20 cricket for anyone who has scored over 700 runs. In fact, there is no one who is even close as all other batsmen average in the 30s or below.

It is fair to say that in the shortest format of the game, he is unparallel whether in consistency or in overall impact.

There is another astonishing statistic if you look at Kohli the captain. If you combine all three formats of the game and take the cut-off limit of 60 matches, Kohli is the only captain in the history of the game who has a winning percentage of over 70 (70.58 after 68 games).

All other international captains from any country have that number in the 60s or below against their name. In fact no Indian captain is even close as they are all in the 50s or below.