Of the many parallels drawn between Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli after the former's incredible batting display in England this summer, a big one was how Gill emulated Kohli with a century on Test captaincy debut. Gill has since surpassed the retired India Test legend on many fronts, and could well go on to shatter a 95-year-old record set by none other than the great Donald Bradman.
Kohli had hit 115 and 141 in the Adelaide Test on his captaincy debut in 2014, and Gill followed in his footsteps with a 147-run knock in his first innings as India red-ball skipper in Headingley. The 25-year-old then took it to the next level with a massive double hundred (269) and another daddy ton (161) at Edgbaston.
What that means is that Gill has already amassed a towering 585 runs in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. With three more games to come in the series and the young India captain looking in supreme touch, he might just break the all-time record for most runs scored in a Test series.
Australian cricket ornament Bradman had tallied an astronomical 974 runs in the Ashes, back in 1930 against England in the latter's backyard. The record has stood the test of time and Gill has a golden opportunity to better it in the same shores where Bradman had scripted it.
The Punjab lad needs 390 more runs to surpass Bradman's mark and with (a maximum of) six batting innings still ahead in the India vs England series, one would not be remiss in wondering the likelihood of the feat.
The highest aggregate for an Indian in a Test series is that of 'Little Master' Sunil Gavaskar, who had accumulated 774 runs in a four-match series in West Indies in 1970-71. Gavaskar also has the next best tally at 732 runs in the Windies' 1978-79 tour of India, while Gill's teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal is third with his 712-run compilation against England at home in 2024.
The next IND vs ENG Test is at Lord's from July 10 to 14, followed by Manchester from July 23 to 27 and The Oval from July 31 to August 4. It remains to be seen how the pitches behave at those venues, but the confidence of the visitors must be sky-high after their 336-run drubbing of Ben Stokes' men in Birmingham.
The result catapulted India to third in the latest ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 standings with their first win in the cycle. Australia lead the pack with two victories from as many games, while Sri Lanka are second with a win and a draw.
