NEW DELHI: India’s new era in Test cricket began with style, composure, and history on Friday as Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal both scored hundreds on the first day of the opening Test against England at Headingley. India ended a dominant day at 359 for 3, the third-highest first-day score by an Indian team at the start of an overseas tour.
300+ runs on the first day of a tour for India
- 399/3 vs SL, Galle, 2017
- 372/7 vs SA, Bloemfontein, 2001
- 359/3 vs Eng, Headingley, 2025
- 356/2 vs Pak, Multan, 2004
- 302/4 vs WI, North Sound, 2016
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!It was only the third instance in Indian Test history where two batters scored centuries on Day 1 of an overseas tour. The other two? Tendulkar and Sehwag in Bloemfontein (2001) and Dhawan and Pujara in Galle (2017).
Two Indian batters scoring 100s on the first day of a tour
Sachin Tendulkar &Virender Sehwag vs SA, Bloemfontein, 2001- Shikhar Dhawan & Cheteshwar Pujara vs SL, Galle, 2017
- Yashasvi Jaiswal & Shubman Gill vs Eng, Headingley, 2025
Like those iconic starts, this one may come to define a new generation of Indian cricket.Gill, leading India for the first time in Tests, delivered a captain’s knock, a fluent, unbeaten 127. It was his first century outside Asia, achieved under the added pressure of stepping into a side without modern legends like Kohli, Rohit, or Ashwin for the first time in 14 years.
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Jaiswal, meanwhile, struck a confident 101, becoming the first Asian opener to score a Test hundred at Headingley. His innings, marked by crisp off-side play and a flurry of boundaries, ended right after tea when Ben Stokes finally breached his defenses. Still, the pair’s 176-run stand for the third wicket had already set the tone.
England, who had hoped to exploit early conditions after India wanted to bowl first, found little movement and even less discipline. Their pacers leaked runs all day, with captain Stokes (2/43) offering the only control.Rishabh Pant joined Gill late and ended the day with a typically attacking 65*, adding to India’s imposing platform. As far as Day 1 statements go, India couldn’t have asked for a better one to open the five-Test series.
