Leeds,: Shubman Gill etched his name into the history books on Friday by becoming only the fifth Indian cricketer to score a century in his first Test as captain. Leading India in the opening match of the five-Test series against England at Headingley, Leeds, the 25-year-old displayed composure and class as he brought up his century during the third session on Day 1.
Appointed India’s 37th Test captain on May 24, 2025, Gill marked his leadership debut with a commanding innings. Batting at No. 4, he reached the milestone in 140 balls, smashing 14 fours en route to an unbeaten 102 by the end of the day. His century placed him alongside an elite list of Indian captains who achieved the feat on Test captaincy debut, including Vijay Hazare (1951), Sunil Gavaskar (1976), Dilip Vengsarkar (1987), and Virat Kohli (2014).
Gill became the second Indian batter to register a century on the opening day, following Yashasvi Jaiswal, who played a brilliant knock of 101 runs off 159 balls, hitting 16 fours and a six. The pair added a crucial 129-run partnership for the third wicket, laying a solid foundation for India.
This innings also saw Gill become the eighth Indian to score a Test century at Headingley, joining the likes of Vijay Manjrekar, MAK Pataudi, Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Since making his Test debut on December 26, 2020, against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Gill has steadily risen through the ranks. With this latest century, he now has six hundreds in the World Test Championship (WTC), second only to Rohit Sharma’s nine. If he goes on to score at least 107 runs in the ongoing innings, he will also become the fourth Indian to cross 2,000 WTC runs, further cementing his place as one of India’s most promising Test batters.
