Despite scoring a great century and contributing to India’s win in Perth, many fear that this is Virat Kohli’s twilight period. That is the bar he has set for himself owing to his unmatched consistency over the years. However, if we set aside his Perth ton, Kohli has undoubtedly looked all at sea. The Australian pacers have found it easy to get rid of Kohli, whose battle against “outside off-stump” just continues to give. So far this year, Virat Kohli has scored 614 at his career-worst average of 21.92 (across formats).
Virat Kohli nearing end of his Test career?
Virat Kohli is undeniably the greatest ODI batter of his generation, if not the best ever. His one-day records speak volumes and it is a shame that he doesn’t get to play as many ODIs as he used to. But his Test career has nosedived massively. If we leave aside Kohli’s 100* in Perth, he has scored just 26 more runs in the rest of 5 other innings. Even his Perth century came on a track that almost offered nothing to the bowlers. Moreover, Kohli has scored 376 runs in Tests so far this year. His average has been a paltry 25.06, his worst-ever in a calendar year (min. 250 runs).
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For those who are still ignoring the fact that Kohli’s career has gone on a downward trajectory, there is a stat for you. For more than a decade, Kohli has dominated batting charts year after year. Incredibly, he has ended as the number one batter in at least one format for a consecutive 14 years. Even during his slump from 2020–2022, Kohli remained at the top. However, 2024 brought in new lows for Kohli, who will not end up as India’s highest-ranked batter in any of the formats for the first time in 14 years.
India’s highest-ranked batter at end of each Year ft. Virat Kohli
| Year | No. 1 Test batter | No. 1 ODI batter | No. 1 T20I batter |
| 2024 | Yashasvi Jaiswal | Rohit Sharma | Tilak Varma |
| 2023 | Virat Kohli | Shubman Gill | Suryakumar Yadav |
| 2022 | Rishabh Pant | Virat Kohli | Suryakumar Yadav |
| 2021 | Rohit Sharma | Virat Kohli | KL Rahul |
| 2020 | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2019 | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | KL Rahul |
| 2018 | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | KL Rahul |
| 2017 | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2016 | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2015 | Ajinkya Rahane | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2014 | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2013 | Cheteshwar Pujara | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2012 | Sachin Tendulkar | Virat Kohli | Virat Kohli |
| 2011 | Sachin Tendulkar | Virat Kohli | Suresh Raina |
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