Virat Kohli is the fifth cricketer to score three double test centuries in a calendar year

Virat Kohli, India’s captain for Test Cricket, on 11 December 2016 became the fifth batsman in the world to score three double-hundreds in a calendar year. He scored his third double-century in the first innings of the third test match against England.

With this, Kohli, who fell on his personal score of 235runs to Chris Woakes, has joined the elite group of cricketers like Michael Clarke (4 centuries) in 2012, Don Bradman (3 centuries) in 1930, Ricky Ponting (3 centuries) in 2003 and Brendon McCullum (3 centuries) in 2014, who had scored three or more double hundreds in a calendar year.

Virat Kohli becomes first Indian captain to score double century outside India

His first double-ton was scored against West Indies, while the second came in Indore against New Zealand. His third double test-century also made him the first batsman to score a double-century in three successive series in a year. He is also first Indian to score three double-tons in a year.

His score of 235 also became the highest score for an Indian captain in Test cricket. The previous best score was 224, which was scored by Mahendra Singh Dhoni against Australia in Chennai in 2013.

Virat Kohli presented with ICC Test Championship mace

Beside this, Kohli is the only player to have an average of 50+ in all formats of the game. Beside this, Kohli is the only player to have an average of 50+ in all formats of the game. His averages in the three formats are

• Test: 50.53
• ODIs: 52.93
• Twenty20 internationals: 57.13

He is also the third captain to score three double centuries in a year. The other two are Clarke (2012) and McCullum.

Till the first innings of the third test match, Kohli was successful in scoring 640 runs, which is the highest score by any Indian batsman in a Test series against England. Last highest against England in a series was 602runs, which was scored by Rahul Dravid in the four-Test series in 2002 in England.

This was the seventh time when an Indian batsman was able to score 600-plus runs in a test series. Sunil Gavaskar and Dravid are among those who have done this twice.

At present, India is leading the five-match test series 2-0 against England. The third test match is being played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.