Top 5 Test wins under Virat Kohli

India's enigmatic skipper Virat Kohli might have been in charge of the Indian Test team for only a little over three years, but he has certainly seen an ascent in his leadership credentials, that has sent him soaring to the statistical captaincy heights of the likes of Ricky Ponting and Lloyd and the character equivalences with the likes of Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly.

Ever since he stood in as the skipper for the Adelaide Test in 2014, it became absolutely crystal clear that he had a penchant for winning games by means of leading by example. Although he fell tragically short of carrying his side to a memorable win in that match, he has more than made up for it in his full time regime.

Like a traditional Indian skipper, he has made the best use of his spinners on the way to leading the side to the ICC number one ranking in the format. What has stood out is his support for the fast bowlers, even on the flaccid subcontinental tracks.

Tactically sound, his attacking mindset has done wonders to the side, harnessing the potential out of the likes of KL Rahul and Umesh Yadav. The pair have flourished with their typical aggressive style of play, and to add to that there has been the recent resurgence of Hardik Pandya.

Let us look at the five best triumphs that have come with Kohli calling the shots in the side, as India stare with hope to engineer a remarkable come from behind win in the series.

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#5 Beat Sri Lanka by 117 runs at Colombo, 2015

In his first Test series as the skipper of the side, Kohli found the hard tasks of the format creep up to him at a shocking pace as a new look Indian side went into the third Test of the series with the scores locked in at 1-1. India had the chance to beat Sri Lanka in their fortress for the first time in 22 years, but also face the harrowing fear of having to lose yet another series to a relatively lower ranked side.

Batting first, the Indian batsmen floundered against the heat of the home seamers and it took a special effort, by Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 145, to carry India to a score of 312.

It was then left to the visiting fast bowlers to dish out some payback, led by an Ishant Sharma five-fer, and penetrative bowling by Umesh Yadav and Stuart Binny, bundling out Sri Lanka for only 201.

Like a teasing pendulum, the hosts struck back and had India reeling at 4/64, with the top four back in the hut. Effectively still at 4/175, India weren't exactly in the driving seat.

A lower order rescue with numbers five to nine, all scoring in excess of 35, handed Sri Lanka a target of 386, and even a fighting 110 from skipper Angelo Matthews couldn't prevent Kohli's resilient men from securing a 117 run win.

#4 Beat South Africa by 337 runs at Delhi, 2015

The series was already won, but there were question marks clouding India's 2-0 lead against South Africa going into the final Test of the series. There were veiled remarks all over about the "doctored" pitches in the series and how the conditions were "unfair".

On the first batting friendly deck of the series, the Indians had a point to prove. Ajinkya Rahane's magnificent century took India to 334 in the first innings and that's when their dominance began.

Ravindra Jadeja scythed through the South African batting and aided by Kohli's ruthless captaincy, the entire bowling unit was able to exact so much pressure that a batsman of AB de Villiers' ability holed out at long-on with his side trailing by 216 runs. South Africa eventually found all their batsman in the shed having scored only 121 runs.

Rahane's second hundred of the match left South Africa chasing either 481 runs or prying out time in form of six sessions. Six sessions on a wearing subcontinental track, and being the stubborn side they have always been, they somehow found the will to play out the overs.

Led by de Villiers' six hour marathon and Hashim Amla's five hour stonewalling, South Africa managed to bat out 555 minutes, but the Indians never gave up and made each ball a testing effort. Kohli's excellent maneuver of having Ravi Ashwin bowl around the wicket to de Villiers with a leg slip got India the most important wicket of the innings to seal the match.

#3 Beat Australia by 75 runs at Bengaluru, 2017

Having lost the opening Test of the home series by 333 runs against what was touted as the weakest touring Australian side, India were in all sorts of trouble in the second Test match as well.

While it was the unbeknownst wreckage by Steve O'Keefe at Pune, it was the prowling Nathan Lyon whose heroic eight-for sent the hosts crashing for their third straight sub 200 total of the series.

It was once again a dogged Ravindra Jadeja who rose up to India's rescue, but Matt Renshaw, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Starc had all stayed out long enough to give the Aussies an 87 run lead.

Despite a strong start by KL Rahul, India were effectively 4/33, their captain dismissed, a pinch hitter experiment failed, and the pitch playing a thousand tricks, albeit less on the ball and more on the batsmen's minds.

It was then that Rahane and Pujara battled for two wicket-less sessions that sucked the spirit out of the previously blood hounding Australians. Their partnership drew comparisons with the Dravid-Laxman epic, and while shorter on runs it was massively in proportion in terms of skill.

At 3/74, chasing 188, it seemed only a matter of one good session that Australia would win the Test, but Kohli brought on Umesh Yadav whose skidding delivery got the better of the invincible Steve Smith. India then went on another relentless spree and took the final six wickets for just 38 runs to complete a remarkable turn around.

#2 Beat South Africa by 63 runs at Johannesburg, 2018

After two closely fought Tests, India found themselves at the wrong end of a 2-0 series scoreline in South Africa, and as usual, speculation was all over social media labelling Kohli's men mere flat track bullies. But the number one side in the world had different plans for the third Test.

On a difficult Wanderers pitch, India could manage only 187 runs, and it could have been fewer had it not been for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's fighting 30 down the order against the five-front line pace attack of the Proteas.

He then turned up in India's first bowling effort to make the most of a venomous pitch, removing the openers cheaply and then the prized scalp of de Villiers with a curving in-swinger. Aided by Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah's pinpoint lines, South Africa could muster only a seven run lead.

However, in the second innings, skipper Kohli played an uncharacteristic gutsy knock along with Rahane, as both the batsmen got their gloves dirty for forty odd ugly runs each, but those runs eventually proved decisive.

Defending 241, India looked down and out of the contest with South Africa at 1/124, but Ishant Sharma plucked out the crucial wicket of Hashim Amla and that's when the dominoes started tumbling against the reverse swing of Shami. The last eight batsmen managed 22 runs between them, as India stunned the hosts to end the series on a fighting note.

#1 Beat England by 203 runs at Nottingham, 2018

No bitter after taste in that champagne for Kohli

Trailing 2-0 in the most hyped Test match-up of the year, coming off the back of the humiliation of an innings defeat at Lord's, the haven of their special 2014 triumph, put in to bat first at Trent Bridge, where James Anderson and Stuart Broad turn up their skill to another notch, India had a mountain of troubles.

The agony of fruitless Kohli hundreds at Adelaide, Centurion and Edgbaston was not meant to repeat, as his 97 and 103 not only put India in a commanding position in the Test, but were finally backed by all of the squad.

The masterful 81 by Pujara in the second innings as he re-established his role as India's Test specialist and Pandya's sensational five-fer to dismiss all English batsmen in a session in the first innings put India in complete control. The marauding onslaught by the top three in the second innings and Jasprit Bumrah's coming of age with a five wicket haul comprising wickets of all variety and under varying circumstances, pointed towards one of the finest performances by a touring Indian side, and certainly the most comprehensive triumph under Kohli.