Virat Kohli keeps on saying that he doesn’t believe in personal records and they mean nothing if the team is not winning on a particular day.

On Friday, his team has the chance to make it a momentous day for him both personally and team wise.

Kohli fell for a gritty 79-ball 41 on Day 3 of the third Test and took India to a good position after scoring 54 in the first innings but he again showed the world his character and ability as a batsman. In the process, he today became the highest run-getter in Tests as an Indian captain, surpassing MS Dhoni and Sunil Gavaskar.

The current Indian captain with 3456 runs tops the chart ahead of Dhoni and Gavaskar, who have 3454 and 3449 runs respectively as captains of the Indian cricket team in whites.

Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly are fourth and fifth with 2856 and 2561 runs to their names as captains in Tests.

The 29-year-old, who has 5554 runs from 66 matches so far, has scored 2062 runs from 19 Tests in India and 1394 runs from 16 games on tour as captain. The Delhi dasher has hit seven hundreds each at home and away and averages 71.10 and 60.60 respectively.

Kohli’s form has been tremendous over the last couple of years and in 2017, he finished with 1059 runs from 10 matches at an average of 75.64. Kohli hit five hundreds and also scored his career-best of 243 against Sri Lankan Delhi. He was the fourth-highest run-getter in the format, behind Steve Smith, Cheteshwar Pujara and Dean Elgar.

2018 has also started on a decent note for the Indian captain. India have lost the three-match Test series 2-0 to South Africa despite playing some genuinely good cricket in patches. The pacers have put their hands up and given India 20 wickets each time they have taken the field but its India’s batting that has let them down. But the only bright spot, if there is any at all, has to be the captain himself.

Kohli scored 153 at Centurion in the first innings and a fighting fifty as well as a commendable 41 at Johannesburg in his final innings in the ongoing series.

His innings could well go down the drain again and the personal record may well not count. But, he has certainly put his team in a good position and in a state from where they can kick on and finally go over the line and salvage a victory for pride in the series.