Virat Kohli’s successor! Shubman Gill scored an innocent fifty on India’s debut as Test Captain

Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Shubman Gill had the weight of expectations on his shoulders. Not only was he making his debut as India’s Test captain, but the 26-year-old was also taking over Virat Kohli’s number four position. Neither of these are easy tasks. But Gill was up for it.

The Headingley pitch looked good to bat on. Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul even scored 91 runs together. But India’s freight train was derailed by Brydon Carse’s timely dismissal at the stroke of lunch in the India vs England 1st Test. KL Rahul missed a deserved half-century and Sai Sudharsan followed suit, registering a duck on his Test debut.

Gill overcomes early jitters & England’s plan

Gill arrived at the crease in the 26th over, with Ben Stokes yet to bowl two balls. The pressure was on him. India would sink deep into a hole if he doesn’t make the good start provided by Rahul and Jaiswal count. Like Sudharsan, Gill was jittery at the start. Although he got off the mark on his second ball, he seemed very eager to rotate the strike.

He got lucky in the 27th over as well when Ollie Pope missed a direct hit or else it would have been curtains for him. But that chance seemed to have woken him up. England had come with the ball to attack his stumps via the incoming ball, his weakness. But Gill was ready.

His main challenge, Chris Woakes, came to bowl at him. In the 32nd, the all-rounder managed to induce an edge and then rapped him on the pads. Gill managed to negate him. And then in the same over, struck him for two sumptuous boundaries. From that moment, Gill looked like a million bucks. His next boundaries came against Woakes as well. It was a driving day for Gill. One was a straight drive, the other through covers.

One of the best parts of Gill’s knock was his strike rate. The Indian captain was aware that he couldn’t let the bowlers dictate things. He was proactive from the start. He struck boundaries, but singles and doubles were flowing from his bat. A big reason behind this was Stokes spreading the field but he knew remaining on strike against a bowler for a long duration could be a recipe for disaster.

It’s only a fifty, but you can see why the selectors and management have so much trust in Gill. Not many have the ability to score with such ease and confidence. Gill replacing Virat Kohli as India’s number four just made sense. Why head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted him to bat at the position looks like the correct decision.