By The Numbers: A look at India great Virat Kohli's test career

Test cricket has lost its biggest star with Virat Kohli's retirement from the longer format.

The India great — contemporary cricket's version of Lionel Messi in soccer — put up some staggering numbers across his test career as the beacon of a team followed by 1.4 billion people.

Here's a flavor of those stats over his 14-year test career:

The number of double-hundreds made by Kohli in tests, the most by an India player and the fourth most in test history. Six of them came in an extraordinary 18-month, 33-innings spell from July 2016 to December 2017 — a period in which he was the No. 1 batter in the format.

The number of test centuries made by Kohli — only 14 players have more. He also had 31 half-centuries.

Kohli's batting average in tests.

The number of test appearances made by Kohli. He was captain in 68 tests, winning 40 of them — the most for an Indian captain and fourth overall in test cricket.

Kohli's highest test score, made against South Africa in Pune, India, in October 2019. He finished the innings not out and it was the last of his double centuries.

The number of test runs made by Kohli, which ranks him fourth on the all-time list of India players behind fellow greats Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar.

The number of followers Kohli has on Instagram.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

FILE - India's Virat Kohli gestures to a member of a crowd during play on the first day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)

FILE - India's captain Virat Kohli kisses the field after scoring a double-century during day two of the first cricket Test match against West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, on July 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)

FILE - India's batsman Virat Kohli runs as he celebrates his century during the first day of their cricket test match against South Africa at Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Dec. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

FILE - India's Virat Kohli watches the ball after playing a shot during play on the second day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, File)

FILE - India's Virat Kohli plays a shot during the third one day international cricket match between India and England in Ahmedabad , India, on Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Ajit Solanki, File)

FILE - India's Virat Kohli, celebrates his hundred runs during the World Cup Pool B match against Pakistan in Adelaide, Australia, on Feb. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/James Elsby, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Demonstrations broke out in Iran on Dec. 28 and have spread nationwide as protesters vent their increasing discontent over the Islamic Republic's faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. Dozens of people have been killed and thousands arrested as the daily protests have grown and the government seeks to contain them. While the initial focus had been on issues like spikes in the prices of food staples and the country's staggering annual inflation rate, protesters have now begun chanting anti-government statements as well.

Here is how the protests developed:

Dec. 28: Protests break out in two major markets in downtown Tehran, after the Iranian rial plunged to 1.42 million to the U.S. dollar, a new record low, compounding inflationary pressure and pushing up the prices of food and other daily necessities. The government had raised prices for nationally subsidized gasoline in early December, increasing discontent.

Dec. 29: Central Bank head Mohammad Reza Farzin resigns as the protests in Tehran spread to other cities. Police fire tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital.

Dec. 30: As protests spread to include more cities as well as several university campuses, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with a group of business leaders to listen to their demands and pledges his administration will “not spare any effort for solving problems” with the economy.

Dec. 31: Iran appoints Abdolnasser Hemmati as the countrys new central bank governor. Officials in southern Iran say that protests in the city of Fasa turned violent after crowds broke into the governor's office and injured police officers.

Jan. 1: The protests' first fatalities are officially reported, with authorities saying at least seven people have been killed. The most intense violence appears to be in Azna, a city in Iran’s Lorestan province, where videos posted online purport to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: “Shameless! Shameless!” The semiofficial Fars news agency reports three people were killed. Other protesters are reported killed in Bakhtiari and Isfahan provinces while a 21-year-old volunteer in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force was killed in Lorestan.

Jan. 2: U.S. President Donald Trump raises the stakes, writing on his Truth Social platform that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” The warning, only months after American forces bombed Iranian nuclear sites, includes the assertion, without elaboration, that: “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.” Protests, meantime, expand to reach more than 100 locations in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Jan. 3: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says “rioters must be put in their place,” in what is seen as a green light for security forces to begin more aggressively putting down the demonstrations. Protests expand to more than 170 locations in 25 provinces, with at least 15 people killed and 580 arrested, HRANA reports.

Jan. 6: Protesters conduct a sit-in at Tehran's Grand Bazaar until security forces disperse them using tear gas. The death toll rises to 36, including two members of Iranian security forces, according to HRANA. Demonstrations have reached over 280 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Jan. 8 to 9: Following a call from Iran's exiled crown prince, a mass of people shout from their windows and take to the streets in an overnight protest. The government responds by blocking the internet and international telephone calls, in a bid to cut off the country of 85 million from outside influence. HRANA says violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 42 people while more than 2,270 others have been detained.

Rising reported from Bangkok

FILE - Protesters march on a bridge in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP, File)