Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his England counterpart Joe Root will go head to head in a four-match Test series starting from February 5 in Chennai. This is Root’s first Test series against India as captain, while for Kohli it is his second series as captain against England. Both the players are also the batting mainstays of their respective teams.
Both the respective leaders are chasing captaincy records in the series to join an elite list. Kohli, who has led India in 10 Tests against England, has 5 wins while Root has 4 wins in 5 Tests against India. With 5 wins, Kohli shares the top spot England great Alastair Cook, who retired from the game in 2018.
Virat Kohli-Joe Root Eyeing Captaincy Records
A Test series win against England will make Virat Kohli the most successful skipper in India-England Tests. Meanwhile, a Test series win for Root will take him over Cook as England’s best captain in Tests against India.
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England play India between February 5 to March 28 for four Tests, five T20Is, and three ODIs. Chennai will host the first two Tests. The final two Tests will be played at the newly built stadium in Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad will host the T20I series followed by Pune for the ODI series.
Virat Kohli has a few other records to get past in the series. Virat has had a good run in the last two Test series against England. After Kohli’s forgetful England tour of 2014, he has scored over 1000 runs in the next two series against the opposition. He scored 655 runs in the 2016-17 series followed by 593 runs in the 2018 series.
He is only 14 runs away from surpassing Clive Lloyd’s tally and becoming the 4th highest run-getter in the longest format as captain. The only players above Kohli and Lloyd in the list are Graeme Smith (8,659), Allan Border (6,623), and Ricky Ponting (6,542).
Also, one more Test win as captain will take Kohli above MS Dhoni who has 20 wins at home as skipper.
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