Skipper Virat Kohli with absolute control to lead India’s charge against the New Zealand bowling lineup in the helpful conditions in Southampton and there were many individual records too that he achieved on the course of the innings and even before coming out to bat.
He surpassed his predecessor, MS Dhoni, as the most-capped Indian captain in Test cricket with the World Test Championship final being his 61st Test as the leader of the side. Dhoni had led the Indian side in 60 Tests while men following him are Sourav Ganguly, who captained in 49 Tests and Mohammad Azharuddin and Sunil Gavaskar, who led the Indian side in 49 games each.
As a batsman, Kohli became the ninth fastest batsman in the world cricket to reach the 7,500-Test runs landmark while his position among Indian batsmen stood at the fourth-fastest batsman. Kohli took 154 innings while men above him are only Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, who took 144 innings each, and Rahul Dravid, who played 148 innings to reach the landmark.
Kohli is unbeaten at 44 along with Ajinkya Rahane in the first innings of the iconic Test match between India and New Zealand that has been affected severely so far by the persistent rain and poor light.