Shubman Gill joins Kohli to become 4th Indian test captain to score 100 in two consecutive tests

India Test team captain Shubman Gill scored a century on the first day of the second Test match at Edgbaston against England on Wednesday.

The Indian captain peeled off his seventh century in the traditional format in 199 balls, his second of the tour in England after completing a hundred in the five-match series opener in Leeds.

The 25-year-old has also become the fourth Indian captain with the most number of hundreds to his name in the first two Tests as skipper with Virat Kohli leading the chart with three tons, followed by Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar.

Gill was at his determined best to hit a hard-fought seventh Test hundred – his second as India’s captain – as the visitors reached 310/5 in 85 overs at stumps on Day One of the second Test. 

Under sunny blue skies, England pushed India into batting first, with the visitors earning flak for resting Jasprit Bumrah, as well as packing themselves with three all-rounders and not including another genuine wicket-taker in Kuldeep Yadav.

But Gill, coming after making 147 in Headingley, showed immense responsibility as well as patience and played like someone extremely determined to grind it out to be unbeaten on 114 off 216 deliveries, laced with 12 boundaries.

During his unbeaten knock, which is his fourth Test hundred against England, Gill has become just the second Indian captain after Mohammad Azharuddin to score hundreds in consecutive Tests in England.

He is also the third Indian captain with hundreds in consecutive Tests against England, after Azharuddin (Lord’s and Old Trafford in 1990) and Vijay Hazare (Delhi and Brabourne in 1951/52). After Yashasvi Jaiswal hit an enterprising 87, Gill and Ravindra Jadeja, who ended the day on 41 not out, shared an unbroken 99-run stand for the sixth wicket and helped India recover well from 211/5.

(with inputs from syndicated feed)