He is the Undisputed Monarch of Indian cricket. He came to limelight in 2008 when he led India to an U-19 World Cup win in Malaysia.
By the time he made his debut for the Indian cricket team, he already had gained the reputation of being the best batsman in Indian cricket; rightful heir to Sachin Tendulkar’s throne/carrying the torch forward from Sachin Tendulkar/picking up from where Sachin Tendulkar left off! (Munna, you can use either of these 3 endings)
He made his international debut in the year 2008, when the batting was at its absolute peak: the golden era of Indian Batting!
A period, where Virat played with the likes of Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Kumble, Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan – “pillars of Indian cricket at that time, who had already successfully established themselves”.
Though in ODI cricket, Virat made his international as a make-shift opener, in August 2008!.
By 2010, he already had achieved healthy statistics, in just 38 ODIs, at an average of 39.97 (runs/innings)
In 2013, he was made a ‘stand-in’ ODI captain of India for the very first time. By this time, he had played 104 ODIs, averaging 41.79 runs and hitting 13 centuries.
However it was in 2015, during the tour of Australia, that he was made the official Test captain of the Indian Cricket Team.
M S Dhoni had stepped down as a captain, as he wanted to focus on ODIs and lead India at the 2015 ODI World Cup. Dhoni eventually led India till December 2016.
Since then, Virat has taken the mantle of leading India in all the 3 formats.
As a captain, Virat’s batting has reached a level, which one can only associate with that of ‘the great’ Sachin Tendulkar…consistent, big scores!!.
Also, his appetite for runs is similar to that of Sachin’s. Both like to score big runs, stay at crease for a long time, work hard on their fitness, and always ready to accept challenges.
As a responsible captain, Virat always excelled with the bat and led India to consistent success. Along with MS Dhoni, he is India’s most successful Test cricket captain. They have taken India to the top of the rankings… and specifically, under Virat , India have dominated every series, barring a couple!
As a captain, Virat holds the unique record of winning 8 consecutive Test series, a feat no other Indian captain has been able to achieve yet!
Here are some outstanding statistics of Indian cricket under Virat Kohli’s captaincy in all format.
Here is series-wise list of those consecutive series wins in each format. 
Here is Virat’s batting performance as a player and captain.
Test Cricket
One day cricket
T20 Int. Cricket
