10 years of Virat Kohli: Year by year in numbers

2012

Kohli absolutely dominated 2012 in all three formats. At the start of the year, there were questions marks about Kohli, the Test batsman. He answered his critics in style as he scored a scintillating maiden Test hundred against a rampaging Australian attack at Adelaide after a couple of good knocks at Perth.

In the tri-series that followed, he took his game a notch higher. He scored consistently and one knock that will stand out from that series will always be that unbeaten 133 that he scored against Sri Lanka when India needed to get 320 inside 40 overs. He continued his splendid form in the Asia Cup as he scored a couple more hundreds (108 vs Sri Lanka and 183 vs Pakistan).

His love affair with Sri Lanka continued when he struck a couple more tons in a 5-match ODI series later that year. It was the most fruitful year for Kohli in T20Is as well. He scored 471 runs in 13 innings which included 4 fifties.

In Test cricket, he struck hundreds against New Zealand and England at home, announcing himself into the Test arena.

Kohli in 2012

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2013

In 2013, Virat Kohli made his captaincy debut. He led the ODI side in the absence of MS Dhoni in the tri-series in West Indies and then in Zimbabwe. Kohli didn’t have the best of starts to the year in terms of ODI cricket. He scored just 168 runs in his first 7 innings. But he played really well in the Test series against Australia where he scored 284 runs at an average of 56.80.

In the Champions Trophy, he scored just one fifty but he played a vital knock of 43 in the final which helped India to post a competitive total. But in the tri-series in West Indies and in the following series in Zimbabwe, Kohli struck a couple of hundreds (as captain) and led India to series wins.

But it was the series against Australia which saw Kohli become the chase master. He scored two scintillating tons, 100* and 115* when India were chasing 360 and 350 respectively. He then capped off the year with some excellent performances in Tests in South Africa as he scored 115 and 96 in two innings at Johannesburg.

Kohli in 2013