Shubman Gill takes captaincy in his stride with risk-free defense and assured strokeplay
On the eve of his first Test as captain and towards the end of his long batting stint at the net session, Shubman Gill edged a sharp away-going ball from left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh behind the stumps. He had been middling most balls, this was a rare error.
Sweaty and tired, he decided he needs to face more balls. Shubman signaled the batting coach to call the two throwdown experts to the nets with new balls. India's new No.4 would face them for half an hour more. Shubman didn't want to leave anything to chance before his big day. Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli … now he was the new Test No.4, he also has the MRF logo on his bat. The rewards of conscious preparation were there to see.
At the end of Day 1, Shubman was unbeaten on 127, a run short of his highest-ever Test score. And his measured knock and total domination of the England attack in the last two sessions went a long way in India calling the shots on the first day of the series in England like never before. At 359/3 and with Rishabh Pant in the kind of mood that makes bowlers lose sleep – his audacious 65, an exhibition of daredevilry and cunning mind games – India had clearly nosed ahead in the Test series. The new era has had a dream start.
𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐬 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐬 💯@ShubmanGill joins an elite list as the 4th Indian captain to score a ton on Test debut as skipper 🇮🇳
Watch Now 👉 https://t.co/PXeXAKeYoj#ENGvIND | 1st Test | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar pic.twitter.com/23rEZNKlnv
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 20, 2025
It was a day when Shubman took captaincy in his stride and hit the ground running wearing the captain's arm-band. The conditions were kind to him, the sun was shining and the openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul had blunted the English attack by the time he came to the crease. But his hundred was an important milestone in his career.
He has scored four Test centuries and also that famous 91 in the fairytale win against Australia in the historic Gabba win. Those knocks would have built his reputation as a batsman, but here his knock was him leading by example, doing more for the collective confidence of the dressing room.
As compared to the other centurion of the day Jaiswal, Shubman played a much tighter knock. The hallmark of his knock was the way he judged the line of the ball. He didn't curtail his game, he was more judicious in his stroke selection.
In an insightful interaction with The Indian Express, on match eve, the great Sachin Tendulkar, had explained in detail the art of run-making in England. The key for a batsman to do well, according to him, was to defend on the front foot.
Shubman was doing exactly that. If a collage of the early part of his innings was to be made, it would have several frames of him standing steady in the crease, his body balance, the elbow and legs bent at perfect angle, to tower over the ball to drop it dead at his feet. This is exactly what he trained for when facing Arshdeep and the team's throwdown experts.
As Tendulkar had warned, batsmen didn't need to throw their hands at balls that are not driveable. But the ones that are comfortably reachable, they needed to be driven. Shubman at Headingley cracked that code, he had the right answer to that delicate question – What to defend and what to drive. That was the reason why close to half of his 16 fours on the off-side with his cover drives, stood out for their fluency.
New role, same class 🙌@ShubmanGill shines with a 50 on his captaincy debut, the youngest Indian to do so! 🏏🔥
Watch Now 👉 https://t.co/PXeXAKeYoj#ENGvIND | 1st Test | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar pic.twitter.com/OI6IfXIeI3
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 20, 2025
The innings also saw his trademark sharp slap like short-arm jab. Going back to the nets, he had called the throwers at the side net and asked to bounce the ball towards him. It was an easy routine at the start of his batting, where Shubman was just trying to get his rhythm. In the final session, he exploited the less-guarded leg-side with this stroke. One of them found his bat's sweet spot and it landed outside the boundary for a six.
In that final session, the English didn't know what hit them. Pant was in-charge of the evening entertainment at Headingley. On just the second ball of his inning, bowled by England skipper Ben Stokes, he jumped out and hit it over the bowler's head. This was followed by a mid-pitch interaction. Stokes staring blankly at Pant kept smiling. India's vice-captain, almost embarrassed for the insulting shot, took his eyes away and went and had a chat with his skipper.
That was the first of the many strokes that the MCC coaching manual would never include. England tried to bowl him short with fielders placed both on the square and fine leg boundary. That didn't make Pant change his plans. He came inside the line of the ball and kept tapping them in the gaps. He even tried his falling-over 'help-along' six over the fine leg. Every time Pant played those ingenious strokes, Stokes would have the same smile of helplessness on his face. The Pant-Shubman partnership was the kind that shatters the spirit of the rival team.
Jaiswal, at the press conference after the game, would say that they would want to bat as long as possible and score many more runs. England would hope that they would do the same when their time comes. When that happens, is the question that will bother Stokes.
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