Virat Kohli is a Test great whose long-form cricket record over the past five years has been far from great.

In an indication of the steep decline endured by the batting maestro from Delhi, he now finds himself outside the top 20 in the ICC men’s Test batting rankings for the first time since December 2014.

On Wednesday, a fortnight out from the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, the 36-year-old former No.1-ranked batter tumbled from 14th to 22nd in the rankings.

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Kohli of course wasn’t India’s only problem in its historic 3-0 Test series defeat to New Zealand on home soil — the cricket powerhouse suffered because of a dearth of runs from all of its premier batters and Ravichandran Ashwin’s rare lack of potency with the ball, among other issues — but Kohli has been a problem for India for a long time and his decline has never been as exposed as it is now.

Between 2011, when Kohli burst onto the Test scene as a baby-faced but brash prodigy, and 2019, he carved out 7202 runs, including 27 centuries, at an average of 54.97 from 84 Tests.

But since 2019, he has amassed 1838 runs, including two tons, at an average of 31.68 from 34 Tests.

He also hasn’t scored a Test century in an Indian win since 2019.

In the three-match series against New Zealand that wrapped up in Mumbai on Sunday, in which the Black Caps consigned India to its first Test series whitewash on home soil in 24 years, Kohli tallied 93 runs at 15.50. He registered scores of 0, 70, 1, 17, 4 and 1.

On one occasion in the series against the Black Caps, Kohli was clean-bowled by a full toss from left-arm orthodox spinner Mitchell Santner. On another occasion, he was run out while attempting a suicidal dash during the final over of a day’s play.

He’s now tasked with stopping his five-year slide in a Border-Gavaskar Trophy series spanning five Tests, beginning in Perth on November 22.

Kohli’s struggles are compounded by those of 37-year-old captain and opener Rohit Sharma, whose output in the series defeat to New Zealand was even leaner than Kohli’s: 91 runs at 15.16, including scores of 2, 52, 0, 8, 18 and 11.

Since former international quick Ajit Agarkar’s appointment to chief India selector in July last year, the cricket juggernaut has moved beyond seasoned Test batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.

That transition, which has brought 22-year-old opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and 27-year-old middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan into the Test side, has heaped more responsibility on Kohli and Sharma, but India’s two most established batters have failed to deliver.

Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor scrutinised India’s wobbly transition on Wide World of Sports’ Outside the Rope.

“They [India] have moved on Pujara and they’ve moved on Rahane, and they’ve left Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, their best two players, but all of a sudden they’ve had a bit of a rocky period … and that has put pressure now on the younger guys and also their lower order,” Taylor noted.

“You still need to make the bulk of your runs from your best players, and over the last probably 12 or 18 months that hasn’t been the case for India.”

Of the Indians who’ve batted in a minimum of 10 Test innings since the appointment of Agarkar to chief selector in July last year, only Jaiswal (56.28), Rishabh Pant (46.88) and Shubman Gill (41.85) have averaged 40 or higher.

In that time, Kohli has averaged 37.40 and Sharma 33.32.

“India have got some batting problems,” said former Australian Test skipper Ian Chappell on Outside the Rope.

“I think Jaiswal is a very good-looking young player, left-hand opener, I think Gill can really play.

“But then you’ve got Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are both ageing, and you get to that point where people start talking about it and maybe it starts to creep into your head a little bit [where you think], ‘Am I getting to that age where it starts to go down hill?’, and they’re both at that age.

“The only thing I’d say against that is they’re coming to Australia where the pitches are pretty good, but there’ll be the extra bounce and if they have gone over the top then the extra bounce will find them out.”

India lost to Australia in last year’s World Test Championship final, held at The Oval, but has won its past two Test series Down Under, triumphing in the summers of 2018-19 and 2020-21.

The Indians have also held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2017. Australia has not won a Test series against them in a decade.

But whether they can win the upcoming series Down Under, or at a minimum retain the trophy, is a shaky prospect.

Kohli’s fading Test career is a major reason for that.