It turned out to be a memorable Test series between England and India where both the teams gave tough fight to each other throughout the five matches. In the end, the series with the scoreline of 2-2 after
India registered a thrilling win by just six runs on the final day of the fifth Test at the Oval, London. Although India missed a chance to win a Test series in England after 2007, the young looking team showed great character and gave a tough fight to the hosts throughout the series. Along with the Indian team, this series was also special for Shubman Gill who was playing his first Test series as a captain.
Shubman Gill was appointed as captain for the England tour after two senior players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohlirespectively announced their Test retirements giving a big shock to the fans ahead of the series. Apart from that, star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also called off his international career during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under last year. It was also going to be a tough challenge for India who were now coming without their three key senior players. However, Shubman Gill-led Indian team showed great fight and ended up levelling the series by 2-2. Not only this, Gill also finished as leading run scorer of the series and broke several records in these five matches.
Shubman Gill as a batter in Test series vs England
Playing his first Test series as captain, Shubman Gill proved his worth as both leader and a batter despite not having great records in the overseas Test matches in the past. The 25-year-old went on to score a hundred in his first Test as captain as he scored 147 runs in the first innings of the first Test in Leeds. However, he couldn’t put pressure on England as captain as the hosts chased the target of 371 runs to take a lead of 1-0 in the series.
In the second Test of the series, Shubman Gill defied all odds as he went on to score centuries in both the innings at Edgbaston, Birmingham. He scored 269 runs in the first innings which is now also the highest score by an Indian captain in a Test innings. However, if this wasn’t enough, Gill went on to score 161 runs in the second innings as India set a huge target of 608 runs and won by 336 runs to level the series. This was also India’s first-ever Test win at The Oval.
|
Mat |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
HS |
Ave |
BF |
SR |
100 |
50 |
0 |
4s |
6s |
|
5 |
10 |
- |
754 |
269 |
75.40 |
1150 |
65.56 |
4 |
- |
- |
85 |
12 |
Shubman Gill didn’t stop there as he went on to score his fourth hundred of the series in the second innings of the fourth Test in Manchester while India were looking to draw the match on the final day. He has amassed a total of 754 runs from from five matches at an average of 75.40. With this, he also left players like Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli behind to amass most runs as an Indian skipper in a single Test series
|
Rank |
Captain |
Runs |
Opponent |
Series/Year |
Matches |
Average |
|
1 |
Shubman Gill |
754 |
England |
2025 |
5 |
75.40 |
|
2 |
Sunil Gavaskar |
732 |
West Indies |
1978/79 |
6 |
91.5 |
|
3 |
Virat Kohli |
655 |
England |
2016/17 |
5 |
109.16 |
|
4 |
Virat Kohli |
610 |
Sri Lanka |
2017 |
3 |
152.5 |
|
5 |
Virat Kohli |
593 |
England |
2018 |
5 |
59.3 |
Shubman Gill as captain in Test series vs England
Shubman Gill was given captaincy of the Indian team which suffered a whitewash in the home Test series for the first time in history against New Zealand and failed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years. Apart from that, retirement of players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma also brought lots of pressure on Gill to not just lead but also perform with the bat in the series.
However, it was looking like Shubman Gill didn’t feel any pressure of captaincy as he ended up becoming the best batter of the series. Apart from that, Gill also impressed with his captaincy leading India to two wins in five matches. He was also impressive as captain in the third Test at Lords as India dominated most of the Test match. However, England made a comeback in the fourth innings and registered a thrilling win by 22 runs in that game.
In the fifth Test as well, where India needed to win to avoid a series loss, England were looking set to chase the target of 374 runs on day four with the partnership of Harry Brook and Joe Root. However, things completely changed after that as India made a thrilling comeback on day five to win the Test and level the series. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna turned out to be stars as India clinched four scalps for just 20 runs on the final day of the Test match.
The last Test series India lost against England was in 2018. After that, they went on to win the home Test series in 2021 and 2024 and draw the away series in 2021-22 and 2025. This series draw also gave a ray of hope to the Indian Test team who wasn’t having a great time from the last few months.
