Shubman Gill joined the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Vijay Hazare and Virat Kohli to become the fifth Indian captain to smash a hundred on captaincy debut in Tests on Friday. Leading India for the first time after being appointed as the captain post Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the longest format, Gill didn’t allow pressure mount on him to reach the three figures in 140 balls.
While Gill, Gavaskar, Hazare and Kohli scored hundreds on their first innings on captaincy debut, Vengsarkar’s century came in the second innings after being dismissed for just 10 in the first. It was Gill’s sixth Test hundred and second on a foreign soil. His only other Test hundred outside India came in 2022 against Bangladesh in Chattogram.
Gill, Jaiswal power India’ domination on Day 1
Riding on Gill’s unbeaten hundred, Jaiswal’s 101 and Rishabh Pant unbeaten half-century, India finished the opening day at 359/3 in 85 overs. For England, Ben Stokes (2/43) and Brydon Carse (1/70) were the only wicket-takers.
It was also the third time two Indians batters have scored hundreds on the very first day of any Test tour. Previously, the pairs of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag (vs South Africa in 2001) and Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara (vs Sri Lanka in 2017) did the same.
Gill also completed 2000 runs in Test cricket as the batter took 60 innings to achieve this feat. Both Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli completed 2000 Test runs in their first match as captain. On Day 2, Gill will start at 127 while Pant will commence his innings on 65.
