This Day, That Year: Team India Batter Virat Kohli Made His Test Debut Against West Indies

Former India captain Virat Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies on this day back in 2011 season.

Photo: AP

It was on June 20, 2011, when former India skipper Virat Kohli made his debut in the Test format of the game. He made his debut against West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. The right-handed batsman did not have a good show with the bat in his first Test as he just managed to score 19 runs in the entire match.

In the first innings, he just managed to score four runs. Kohli came into bat at number five position and he was sent back to the pavilion by Fidel Edwards.

In the second innings, the right-handed Kohli scored 15 runs from 54 balls and was eventually dismissed by Fidel Edwards again. India eventually went on to win the match by 63 runs. Since his Test debut, Kohli has left a huge mark on the game.

Kohli made his Test debut on this day in 2011 and he has changed the fortunes of Indian Test cricket as a batter and captain. He has so far played 109 Tests, and he has managed to score 28 centuries at an average of 48.72.

On this day in 2011 - Virat Kohli made his debut in Test Cricket & since then:

Most runs for IND.
Best average for IND.
Most 100s for IND.
Most 200s in World.
Most runs as Captain
Most 100s as Cap.
Most wins as Cap.
Most series & away wins as Cap.
Most Test Maces as Captain (5). pic.twitter.com/Jv0uiKTiKE

— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) June 20, 2023

Kohli played a knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 and this remains his highest Test score to date. The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the former Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Currently, Kohli is ranked 13th in the Tests rankings. India’s run machine has scored 8479 runs in cricket’s longest format at a strike rate of 55.34.

After 2021 and the first half of 2022 which went against Kohli’s gigantic standards, the star batter started his redemption arc from Asia Cup 2022. Virat took a break of more than a month from the sport before the tournament.

One of the senior batsmen who received criticism for his play in the recently concluded World Test Championship final (WTC) at The Oval was Virat Kohli. In the fourth innings of the game, Kohli missed reaching his half-century by one run. He was dismissed after pursuing a wide delivery at a key point in the game, and his dismissal style drew criticism.