Remember 2016? The year when Virat Kohli went berserk and smashed every team, bowler and opposition? Eight years ago, Kohli entered beast mode. He was already a star by 2014 and had enhanced his reputation further in 2015. But 2016 is when he became a legend. At the World T20, Kohli was the Player of the Tournament scoring 273 runs at an average of 136.5, blasted 973 runs in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (then Bangalore) and averaged over 70 in all three formats. He scored 739 runs in 10 ODIs, 641 from 13 T20Is and 1215 more from 18 Tests, including 7 centuries. Freaky, isn't it?

But beyond these staggering statistics, there is one more number which Kohli holds dear to his heart: 7. That's the number of double-centuries he has struck in his Test career for India. As surprising as it may be, six of these seven double centuries came in a span of 17 months. Kohli's first double was a score of 200 against West Indies in July of 2016, and by December of 2017, he had racked up five more. But did you know, that for the longest time Kohli wondered when that elusive double will come. Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar shares an interesting anecdote, explaining the greatness of the man.

"There was a time when he said to me that he hasn't made any double hundred. And after a while there is a process to which he can make double hundreds, and once he achieved it, once he tasted it, I think he had some 4-5 double hundreds in one season. So that was all possible because of his extreme desire to do well and test himself," Bangar said on The Rao Podcast.

The term 'process' is one that was heavily used by another India legend and Kohli's first India captain, MS Dhoni. Like Dhoni had his 'processes', Kohli had his own method to madness. He was literally unstoppable during that period from 2016 to 2019. Kohli was batting on what they call 'GOD' mode, and everything he touched was turning into gold.

When Kohli made it rain runs

Kohli scored the second double-century of his India career, scoring 211 against New Zealand three months later in October 2016, but reserved his best for when England came to India. With the horror of 2014 still fresh in the mind of Kohli, he went about his 'process' almost with a touch of revenge, hitting 167 in the second Test and bettering it with 235 at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. He began 2017 pretty much the same way he ended 2016, scoring another double century – 204 against Bangladesh – the fourth of his career.

Kohli had to wait till the end of the year to repeat it, only this time he doubled up the double. Surprised? Against Sri Lanka, Kohli scored consecutive double hundreds at home – 213 in Nagpur followed by 243 in his hometown of Delhi. With this, Kohli ensured that he had a double century in four consecutive Test series, going past Rahul Dravid and the one and only Don Bradman, who had three each. The last double ton of Kohli's Test career came in the year 2019, which is also his highest score till date – 254 not out against South Africa in Pune. But with 16 more Tests lined up in the next year or so, expecting No. 8 or more surely won't be asking for too much.