5 Most Selected Players In Virat Kohli's 60 Tests As A Captain

Virat Kohli has enjoyed a lot of success as a captain of the Indian test team and he has already taken the side to the ICC World Test Championship Final of the inaugural edition. He has already been the most successful captain of India in tests and has surpassed greats like MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, and Sunil Gavaskar.

Virat Kohli’s captaincy has also boosted his career as a Test batsman and he has been phenomenal with the bat. He has marshaled his troops to victory and he generally has liked to use the pace attack as a threat against the opponents.  To be honest, it is Virat Kohli’s team, and here are the 5 most selected players in Virat Kohli’s 60 tests as a captain.

5 Most Selected Players In Virat Kohli’s 60 Tests As A Captain:

5. Ishant Sharma:

Ishant Sharma has become one of the most consistent bowlers in tests cricket with his length and lines being very precise. The tall fast bowler from Delhi has been outstanding in the last two to three years for India and he is the most experienced player in the Indian test team at the moment.

The 32-year-old has played 101 tests so far and has picked up 303 wickets at an average of 32.3. He has relished taking the new ball for the country in tests and has led the pace attack from the front. Ishant has played 40 tests under the leadership of Virat Kohli and he had to miss out on few tests due to injury concerns.

4. Mohammad Shami:

Mohammad Shami has one of the best seam positions among the fast bowlers and he is a joy to watch when he is in the rhythm. Virat Kohli has used Mohammad Shami very wisely by bringing him with the old ball to exert reverse swing and he has been very successful too.

The 30-year-old has played 50 tests so far and has picked up 180 wickets at an average of 27.6. Shami has often been very effective in the second innings of the test and his extra pace is an added advantage for the skipper. He has played most of his career with 40 tests under the leadership of Virat Kohli.

3. Ravichandran Ashwin:

Ravichandran Ashwin is also portrayed to be India’s greatest spin all-rounder and he has picked up heaps of wickets in the last decade. He is instrumental to India’s success in the home test series and is a very clever bowler with a lot of variations.

The 34-year-old from Tamil Nadu has played 78 tests and has picked 409 wickets at an average of 24.7 so far. He has picked up 30 five wickets hauls already and he is a very handy batsman down the order too. He has scored five centuries and eleven half-centuries in his test career at a batting average of 27.9. He has played 51 test matches under the leadership of Virat Kohli.

2. Cheteshwar Pujara:

Cheteshwar Pujara has been depicted as India’s warrior in overseas conditions and he has batted hours and days to keep his team in the hunt. Despite his century drought in the last two years, he still has been making impactful performances and it was evident in the famous series win in Australia last year.

The 33-year-old has played 85 tests and has scored 6244 runs at an average of 46.6. He has scored 18 centuries and he likes to notch up big scores when he gets into his groove. The Saurashtra lad has been batting at number three for India for a long time now and he has played 54 tests under the leadership of Virat Kohli so far.

1. Ajinkya Rahane:

Ajinkya Rahane is often called the “man for the crisis” and he has stitched a lot of important partnerships when the team needed him the most. The vice-captain of the Indian test team was dropped from the playing eleven in the South African test tour for the first two tests and ever since that, he has made it count on most occasions.

Rahane has faced a lot of criticism for his inconsistency in the last few years and it has taken a blow on his technical aspect too. He had to work on his batting again and he captained India in the absence of Virat Kohli to a famous 2-1 win over Australia last year. He has been playing at number five for India in the middle order and has played 56 tests under Kohli which is the most for any Indian batsman so far.