India tour of England 2025: Shubman Gill reaches a landmark no Indian captain previously could

India may have lost the opening Test of Shubman Gill's captaincy tenure but the new skipper has taken to leadership like a fish to water, at least in terms of batting. However, three innings into this England tour and Gill already has two hundreds, including centuries on the first days of both games - the first Indian to achieve this feat. On the second morning in Edgbaston, Gill went a step further as he converted his hundred into a double hundred, thereby becoming the first Indian captain to achieve this feat in England.

 

The 25-year-old continued to break records at Edgbaston with the double century being the icing on the cake. On the opening day of the Edgbaston Test, Gill's control percentage of 96.3 was the highest by any centurion in England since this data started to be compiled in 2006. On an average, the false percentage for centurions in England tend to be around 12 and Gill clocked a stupendous 3.7 in this regard on the opening day.

 

For the record, only five Indian captains had previously got double centuries in Tests - MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. However, in this list, only Kohli managed to get this feat outside India when notched up the double ton against West Indies in North Sound during the 2016-17 season. Gill joins Kohli as the second Indian captain to register a double ton away from home. There is another major achievement that Gill has unlocked during this knock. While getting past 211, he registered the highest score by a visiting captain in England since 2003 when Graeme Smith registered scores of 277 and 259.

 

Those are also the second and third highest scores by a visiting captain in England with Australia's Bob Simpson topping the list with 311, the only triple centurion in the list.

 

Gill's career in the longest format had been a mixed bag prior to this series, which is why his captaincy appointment received polarised reactions in the media amongst the pundits and fans alike. India's new-look batting unit was also looked upon with a skeptical mind. However, despite the loss in the series opener, Gill's lads put a reasonably good account of themselves with the bat as five hundreds were scored in the game by the visitors including two from Rishabh Pant.

Lower-order batting collapses in both innings along with dropped catches proved critical at Headingley and Gill took it upon himself to ensure that it didn't repeat at Edgbaston. There was a moment of panic on the opening day when India slipped to 211/5 with the wickets of Pant and Nitish Reddy in successive overs. However, Gill took control of proceedings and nervelessly guided the tourists along with Ravindra Jadeja as the pair added 203 for the sixth wicket.

 

While the latter fell to a nasty bumper from Josh Tongue, Gill continued to motor along and found good support from Washington Sundar as India soared past the 500-run mark.

 

 

 

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