Virat Kohli is the most successful Test captain of the Indian team. He became the Indian Test captain in 2014-15, when MS Dhoni retired during the Australia tour that season. He continued till 2022, when he stepped down, with Rohit Sharma taking over.

Kohli captained India in 68 Tests, winning 40 of those and losing only 17 games, with 11 ending in a draw. Beyond statistics, Virat's tenure as captain was unprecedented. He guided India to seven Test victories in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) conditions, the most by an Asian captain, including a historic series victory in Australia in 2018–19.

Kohli discussed his stint as captain in the game's longest format and how the lack of an age gap between the players allowed them to share responsibility and ownership more effectively. Virat spoke in a teaser for the RCB Podcast, which was uploaded on the team's official X handle.

"I, in fact, looked at the times that I have been able to play-test cricket for so long and, you know, the opportunity and leading India for so long to, you know, some amazing victories and a golden era in our test journeys. You know, a bunch of young guys who always wanted to play test cricket for India, having the opportunity of their lives as a young group,” Kohli said on the RCB podcast.

According to Virat, the core players—including himself, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and others—were all in their 20s, which resulted in a lower average age and a shared sense of accountability and ownership.

"The most important thing was that if you look at our average age, you know, there was no hesitation between seniors and juniors. Everyone had played under the senior players a little bit before, and so many of the younger guys that came in after, we were like a group of friends. So what happened was, okay, I was leading, and the management was, you know, taking the team forward in a certain way, but the most important thing was because of the average age of the group, everyone felt like they had responsibilities and ownership," he said.

"It was not like, 'Yeah, these guys will look after the team, and, you know, we do not have anything to do with it.' It felt like, "Okay, we are young; we want to create this, you know, team for the next six, seven, or eight years." What can I do to make the team better? So people started asking questions of themselves," he signed off.  

Kohli brought down the curtain on his Test career as India's fourth-highest run-getter, with 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85 and 30 centuries.