Kohli joins the greats with another double

Indian captain Virat Kohli has continued his record-breaking year, joining some of the greats of the game in notching a second straight double-century in the third Test against Sri Lanka.

Just a week after he posted 213 against the Sri Lankans in Nagpur, Kohli brought up 200 again in Delhi on Sunday, becoming just the sixth man in history to score a double hundred in consecutive Test innings.

He joins England great Wally Hammond (twice), Australian icon Sir Donald Bradman, countryman Vinod Kambli as well as modern greats Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Michael Clarke of Australia in achieving the feat.

It's the sixth time Kohli has posted a score of 200 or more in Tests, moving him to equal sixth on the all-time list alongside former teammates Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Bradman (12 scores of 200-plus) and Sangakkara (11) lead the way in that regard.

His sixth double as skipper is a Test record, surpassing Brian Lara's mark of five.

Incredibly, all six of Kohli's Test doubles have come in the past 18 months; his first came against the West Indies in Antigua in July last year and he's followed that with doubles against New Zealand in Indore (in October last year), England in Mumbai (last December), Bangladesh in Hyderabad (last February) and now two in this series against Sri Lanka.

The right-hander also opened the series with an unbeaten 104 in the first Test in Kolkata.

Kohli's thirst for big hundreds has increased markedly since he took over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2015; of his 12 Test centuries as captain, only twice has he been dismissed for less than 140.

The knock in Delhi is Kohli's 20th Test hundred in just his 105th innings, making him the fifth-fastest to that mark behind Bradman (55 innings), Sunil Gavaskar (93), Matthew Hayden (95) and Steve Smith (99).

He also moved past 5000 career runs and 3000 as Test captain in this innings and his third successive Test ton makes him the sixth Indian to achieve that feat.

And his sixth century against Sri Lanka this year - four in Tests and two in one-day internationals - equals the record of Tendulkar in 1998 and West Indian Desmond Haynes in 1984 (both against Australia) for the most hundreds against one nation in a calendar year.

But having been rested from the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka, and possibly the T20 series as well, it appears unlikely Kohli will add to his tally this year and take the record for himself.

TEST 200s IN CONSECUTIVE INNINGS

* Wally Hammond v Australia, 1928
* Wally Hammond v New Zealand, 1933
* Don Bradman v England, 1934
* Vinod Kambli v England & Zimbabwe, 1993
* Kumar Sangakkara v Bangladesh, 2007
* Michael Clarke v South Africa, 2012
* Virat Kohli v Sri Lanka, 2017

MOST TEST 200s AS CAPTAIN

6 - Virat Kohli (India)
5 - Brian Lara (West Indies)
4 - Michael Clarke (Australia)
4 - Graeme Smith (South Africa)
4 - Don Bradman (Australia)

NUMBER OF INNINGS TO SCORE 20 TEST CENTURIES

55 - Don Bradman (Australia)
93 - Sunil Gavaskar (India)
95 - Matthew Hayden (Australia)
99 - Steve Smith (Australia)
105 - Virat Kohli (India)

VIRAT KOHLI'S TEST CENTURIES AS CAPTAIN
(most recent first)

201*, 213, 104*, 103*, 204, 235, 167, 211, 200, 103, 147, 141, 115