Virat Kohli becomes most successful India Test captain: Timeline, highs, lows, challenges ahead

1. The high points of Kohli's Test captaincy

Kohli has a stupendous run as a captain at home, beating all comers like Australia and South Africa but he has some fine victories overseas as well, often viewed as a benchmark of captains. He started off with a series win against the West Indies and then made a clean sweep of the three-match series against Sri Lanka. It was the first series in the Islands for India in 22 years and the first whiteash in a three-match series against the neighbours. But the real peak was India's historic series win over Australia in 2018-19, a first in the country's cricketing history.

2. The lows of Kohli's captaincy

India floundered in South Africa and England last year and Kohli also had to cope the blame of bad team selection. The descision to drop Ajinkya Rahane for the first two Tests against the Proteas and Cheteshwar Pujara for the first Test against England came as a shocker. There were consolation wins in South Africa and England but they were not enough to paper over the huge cracks.

3. The road ahead for Kohli

For the time being, the away leg for India is over and they will have to formidable teams to face at home -- South Africa and Bangladesh. South Africa may not be the force of the old after the retirements of stars like AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Hashim Amla but they still have some potent match winners in Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada etc and can challenge India quite deep into a Test match. Bangaldesh, on the other hand, is a vastly improved side, an ensemble of capable batsmen and they have a bevy of spinners who can exploit Indian pitches. It will not be a walkover for Kohli and his band, but rest assured, they will be ready to surmount the challenges. Then in January, India will travel to New Zealand for two Tests and Kohli would certainly looking for another away series win.

4. Which captains are ahead of Kohli now

With 28 Test wins as captain, Kohli has surpassed Dhoni, Vivian Richards and now he is tied with former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming. Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith tops the chart of most successful Teset captain with 53 wins in 109 Tests. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has 48 Tests wins as captain from 77 Tests and Steve Waugh, another former Aussie skipper, has notched up 41 Test wins from 57 matches. Former West Indian skipper Clive Lloyd has 36 Test victories from 74 games while former Australian captain Allan Border has bagged 32 wins from 93 matches. So, Kohli would be eager to surpass three of Smith's records as captain - most runs (8659), most hundreds (25) and most Test wins (53).