Virat Setting Records

Setting records

 Kohli stood-in as the captain for the first ODI of the triangular series in the West Indies after Dhoni injured himself during the match. India lost the match by one wicket, and Dhoni was subsequently ruled out of the series with Kohli being named the captain for the remaining matches. In his second match as captain, Kohli scored his first hundred as captain, making 102 off 83 balls against the West Indies at Port of Spain in a bonus point win for India.Many senior players including Dhoni were rested for the five-match ODI tour of Zimbabwe in July 2013, with Kohli being appointed captain for an entire series for the first time.In the first game of the series at Harare, he struck 115 runs from 108 balls, helping India chase down the target of 229 and winning the man of the match award.He batted on two more occasions in the series in which he had scores of 14 and 58 not out. India completed a 5–0 sweep of the series; their first in an away ODI series.

• Kohli had a successful time with the bat in the seven-match ODI series against Australia. After top-scoring with 61 in the opening loss at Pune, he struck the fastest century by an Indian in ODIs in the second match at Jaipur. Reaching the milestone in just 52 balls and putting up an unbroken 186-run second-wicket partnership with Rohit Sharma that came in 17.2 overs, Kohli's innings of 100 not out helped India chase down the target of 360 for the loss of one wicket with more than six overs to spare. This chase was the second-highest successful run-chase in ODI cricket, while Kohli's knock became the fastest hundred against Australia and the third-fastest in a run-chase. He followed that innings with 68 in the next match at Mohali in another Indian defeat, before the next two matches were washed out by rain. In the sixth ODI at Nagpur, he struck 115 off only 66 balls to help India successfully chase the target of 351 and level the series 2–2 and won the man of the match.He reached the 100-run mark in 61 balls, making it the third-fastest ODI century by an Indian batsman, and also became the fastest batsman in the world to score 17 hundreds in ODI cricket. India clinched the series after winning the last match in which he was run out for a duck. At the conclusion of the series, Kohli moved to the top position in the ICC ODI batsmen rankings for the first time in his career.

• Kohli batted twice in the two-match Test series against the West Indies, and had scores of 3 and 57 being dismissed by Shane Shillingford in both innings. This was also the last Test series for Tendulkar and Kohli was expected to take Tendulkar's number 4 batting position after the series.In the first game of the three-match ODI series that followed at Kochi, Kohli made 86 to seal a six-wicket win and won the man of the match. During the match, he also equalled Viv Richards' record of becoming the fastest batsman to make 5,000 runs in ODI cricket, reaching the landmark in his 114th innings.He missed out on his third century at Visakhapatnam in the next match, after being dismissed for 99 playing a hook shot off Ravi Rampaul.India lost the match by two wickets, but took the series 2–1 after winning the last match at Kanpur. With 204 runs at 68.00, Kohli finished the series as the leading run-getter and was awarded the man of the series.

Overseas season

India toured South Africa in December 2013 for three ODIs and two Tests. Kohli averaged 15.50 in the ODIs, including a duck. In the first Test at Johannesburg, playing his first Test in South Africa and batting at 4 for the first time, Kohli scored 119 and 96. His hundred was the first by a subcontinent batsman at the venue since 1998.Regarding Kohli's hundred, South Africa bowling coach Allan Donald said, "The one word that comes to my mind is responsibility. I think he [Kohli] showed great discipline and responsibility. It reminds me of Sachin Tendulkar when they came here in 1996." The match ended in a draw, and Kohli was awarded man of the match.India failed to win a single match on the tour, losing the second Test by 10 wickets in which he made 46 and 11.

"Kohli is the next chosen one. He exudes the intensity of Dravid, the audacity of Sehwag, and the extraordinary range of Tendulkar. That doesn't make him better, simply sui generis, his own unique kind."

— Former New Zealand captain 

 Martin Crowe on Kohli

• Kohli continued to amass runs on the subsequent New Zealand tour. He averaged 58.21 in the five-match ODI seriesin which his efforts of 111-ball 123 at Napier, 65-ball 78 at Hamilton and 78-ball 82 at Wellington all went in vain as India were defeated 4–0. He made 214 runs at 71.33 in the two-match Test series that followed including an unbeaten 105 on the last day of the second Test at Wellington that helped India save the match.

1. India then travelled to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup and World Twenty20. Dhoni was ruled out of the Asia Cup after suffering a side strain during the New Zealand tour, which led to Kohli being named the captain for the tournament.Kohli scored 136 off 122 balls in India's opening match against Bangladesh, sharing a 213-run third-wicket stand with Ajinkya Rahane, which helped India successfully chase 280. It was his 19th ODI century and his fifth in Bangladesh, making him the batsman with most ODI centuries in Bangladesh. India were knocked out of the tournament after narrow losses against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in which Kohli scored 48 and 5 respectively.

Dhoni returned from injury to captain the team for 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and Kohli was named vice-captain. In India's opening match of the tournament against Pakistan, Kohli top-scored with 36 not out to guide India to a seven-wicket win. He scored 54 off 41 balls in the next game against West Indies and an unbeaten 57 from 50 balls against Bangladesh, both in successful run-chases. In the semi-final, he made an unbeaten 72 in 44 deliveries to help India achieve the target of 173 with six wickets and five balls to spare.He won the man of the match for this knock which he called "my best T20 innings". India posted 130/4 in the final against Sri Lanka, in which Kohli scored 77 from 58 balls, and eventually lost the match by six wickets. Kohli had made a total of 319 runs in the tournament at an average of 106.33, a record for most runs by an individual batsman in a single World Twenty20 tournament,for which he won the Man of the Tournament award.

• Kohli and other senior players were rested for India's tour of Bangladesh ahead of the England tour. India conceded a 3–1 defeat in the five-match Test series against England despite leading it 1–0 after the first two Tests. Kohli fared poorly in the series averaging just 13.40 in 10 innings with a top score of 39. He was dismissed for single-digit scores on six occasions in the series and was particularly susceptible to the swinging ball on off stump line, being dismissed several times edging the ball to the wicket-keeper or slip fielders. Man of the series James Anderson got Kohli's wicket four times,^[185] while Kohli's batting technique was questioned by analysts and former cricketers. Geoffrey Boycott said, "Jimmy Anderson ate him for breakfast. 

1. Every time Kohli came in, all he did was bowl at off stump, around the corridor of uncertainty and Kohli nicked it. He is playing with his bat too far away from his pad. He has to look at video replays of his technique and get back to basics".India won the ODI series that followed 3–1, but Kohli's struggles with the bat continued with an average of 18 in four innings. In the one-off T20I, he scored 41-ball 66, his first fifty-plus score of the tour on the last match of the tour. India lost the match by three runs, but Kohli reached the number one spot for T20I batsmen in the ICC rankings.

• Kohli had a successful time during India's home ODI series win over the West Indies in October 2014. His 62 in the second ODI at Delhi was his first fifty across Tests and ODIs in 16 innings since February,and he stated that he got his "confidence back" with the innings.He struck his 20th ODI hundred–127 runs in 114 balls–in the fourth match at Dharamsala. India registered a 59-run victory and Kohli was awarded man of the match. Dhoni was rested for the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in November, enabling Kohli to lead the team for another full series. Kohli batted at 4 throughout the series and made scores of 22, 49, 53 and 66 in the first four ODIs, with India leading the series 4–0. In the fifth ODI at Ranchi, Kohli came in to bat with India at 14/2 in pursuit of 287. He made an unbeaten 139 off 126 balls to give his team a three-wicket win and a whitewash of Sri Lanka.

 Kohli was awarded player of the series, and it was the second whitewash under his captaincy.During the series he became the fastest batsman in the world to go past the 6000-run mark in ODIs. With 1054 ODI runs at 58.55 in 2014, he became the second player in the world after Sourav Ganguly to make more than 1,000 runs in ODIs for four consecutive calendar years.