Shubman Gill (127*) becomes fifth Indian batsman to score a century on Test captaincy debut. Joins Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Virat Kohli club
England becomes third country after West Indies and Australia where Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) has struck a century in his first Test of the tour
Without India’s tormentor-in-chief, the great Jimmy Anderson, the English pace bowling attack appears to have been weakened
There couldn’t have been a more fitting venue than Headingley cricket ground in Leeds, with a 120 years history of Test cricket, and made famous by the two record-setting triple centuries in the early 1930s by the legendary Australian Sir Donald Bradman, for the young Indian batting stars to make a bold statement that they are ready to take on the mantle of carrying forward the legacy of India’s batting dominance after the greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma abruptly called time on their red ball careers.
With fluent centuries by left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) and captain Shubman Gill (127*) at No. 4, a first for both on English soil, an unbeaten half century by vice-captain Rishab Pant and an equally impressive 42 by the other opener KL Rahul, the new brigade of Indian batters completely dominated the England bowlers, posting a commanding 359 for 3 on the first day of the opening Test of the 5-match WTC Test Series on Friday.
(England bowlers bounced back in the latter half of the first session of play on the 2nd day of the Test match, sending back four Indian batters in quick succession, but not before vice-captain Rishab Pant became the third centurion of the innings, and both he and the overnight centurion captain Shuman Gill had plundered the bowling for 81 more runs in quick time. Gill (147) was the first to depart, followed by another failure of the innings Karun Nair. Making a Test comeback after eight years, he returned for a duck having faced just four balls. A belligerent Rishab Pant (134) and No. 8 batter Shardul Thakur (1) became captain Ben Stokes’ third and fourth scalps. At lunch India were still strongly placed at 454 for 7.)
(In notching up his seventh Test hundred, Rishab Pant has broken MS Dhoni’s record for most Test tons by an Indian wicketkeeper in the longest format of the game)
The performances would have given heart to those who were doubting the abilities of the new generation of batters, especially in countering the challenging English conditions, and the decision of the selectors and the team management in handing the Test captaincy to 25-year-old Shubman Gill at such a young age, considering that he has played only 32 Test matches with a less than flattering aggregate of 1893 runs, averaging just over 35.
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Openers Jaiswal and Rahul displayed remarkable poise and discipline in the initial overs, after India were put in to bat by England captain Ben Stokes. They consistently left deliveries bowled at them in the corridor of uncertainty by the opening pace duo of Chris Woakes and Brydan Carse, while at the same time not missing opportunities to score runs.
KL looked more fluent of the two in his stroke making, while Jaiswal took time to set into his grove, initially unable to get his timing right and in the process missing out on some of his favourite slashing cuts, uppish flicks and lap shots. Their opening partnership threatened to take the game completely away from the hosts, before Carse and Ben Stokes struck with two quick dismissals on the stroke of lunch.
Despite earlier having restrained himself from playing the away going balls, KL paid the price for a rare indiscretion to Brydan Carse. The opening partnership yielded 91 valuable runs. The first innings on Test debut proved disastrous for left-handed B Sai Sudharsan, who was dismissed for a duck, perhaps too anxious to get off the mark. He lasted just four ball and edged a flick off the pads to a Ben Stokes delivery into the safe gloves of a diving Jamie Smith behind the stumps.
In the session between lunch and tea, the England attack was taken on another leather hunt with captain Shubman Gill, in his effortless stylish best, and Jaiswal expressing themselves freely and effortlessly reaching the boundaries. In between Jaiswal experienced persistent cramps in his right arm which he kept wringing, even receiving medical attention. Soon after completing his well-deserved century, Jaiswal departed after being castled by a zapper from Ben Stokes post tea break.
That was England’s last success for the day, as the captain and vice-captain frustrated the England attack for the next two hours. Gill completed his century with a fluent cover drive and Pant raced to his half century in his typical dramatic stroke play style. Even the new ball, taken immediately after it became due after the 80th over, could not make a dent as the cool duo remained relentless.
Taking nothing away from the class displayed by the Indian batters, it would be a fail to not mention that minus India’s perpetual tormentor, the great Jimmy Anderson (who has an envious record of claiming 149 wickets in 39 Test matches against India), the English bowling attack appeared to be weakened. On a flat and dry surface, the English pace bowlers Woakes, Carse, Josh Tounge and Stokes found lateral movement, both in the air and off the pitch, but it was by no means menacing. The lone spinner on display Shoaib Bashir found little purchase from the wicket and yet stuck to a good line and length in the 21 overs he bowled.
Some other interesting stats
This is only the third time in India’s 93 years history that two players have tonned up on the first day of an away Test tour.
Yashasvi Jaiswal raised his fifth Test hundred in his 20th match. This is his third century against England. His previous two came during England’s last tour of India in 2024, when Jaiswal smashed 712 runs from the five-Test series at home, becoming only the second Indian batter to score more than 700 runs in a single Test series.
The hundred at Leeds was Shubman Gill’s sixth Test ton
Pant struck his 16th Test fifty and crossed 3,000 runs in the red ball format of the game.
Previously only six Indian batters had scored Test hundreds at Headingley, Leeds – Vijay Manjrekar, Nawab of Pataudi, Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
