India Test captain Shubman Gill slammed his second successive Test match hundred in England on Wednesday. After a brilliant 147 at Headingley, Leeds in the first Test, Gill, a right-handed batter, struck an unbeaten 114 against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, ending a 35-year wait for India. Gill is now the second India captain to score back-to-back hundreds against England in England after Mohammad Azharuddin, who struck centuries at Lord's and Old Trafford in 1990. In all, Gill is the third India captain to score consecutive hundreds against England. Vijay Hazare was the first Indian skipper to achieve the feat, doing so in Delhi and Brabourne in the 1951–52 series.

Coming in to bat at a crucial juncture of the Test at No. 4, with India struggling at 161 for 3 following the dismissal of Karun Nair, Gill displayed calmness, composure, class, and control. He decorated his innings with 12 boundaries and maintained a strike rate of 52.78 on Day 1 as India accumulated 310 runs for 5 wickets at stumps. Gill will look to build on this strong start and go for a bigger knock on Day 2.

Playing his first Test series as captain, Gill has so far shown his ability to soak up pressure and lead the team from the front—at least in terms of batting. His celebration after reaching the three-figure mark reflected pent-up emotion, as he let out a roar, raised his helmet in the air, took a bow towards the crowd, and kissed his bat.

With his second ton in the five-match Test series against England, Gill has also broken into an elite league of Indian batters who have scored centuries in three consecutive Tests against England. The young captain now finds himself on the same list as Mohammad Azharuddin (1984–85), Dilip Vengsarkar (1985–86), and Rahul Dravid - who achieved the feat twice, in 2002 and again between 2008–2011. Before his tons at Headingley and Edgbaston, Gill had scored a century at Dharamsala during England’s tour of India in 2024.

Gill, meanwhile, became the fourth Indian captain to score centuries in the first two Tests as skipper, after Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, and Virat Kohli - who scored a hundred in three consecutive matches.