India Test skipper Shubman Gill is having a dream debut series in charge of the team against England in the ongoing five-match Test series. The 25-year-old has so far scored 722 runs in four Tests at 90.25, with four centuries to go. He only missed out on scoring a ton at the Lord's Test. With the fourth Test due to start on Thursday, July 31, the right-hand batter will eye several records.
However, one record is probably improbable among the several records Gill will be vying to break in the fifth and final Test - a record set by Don Bradman in just his second series; he scored a mammoth 974 runs in the 1930 Ashes series. At that time, the former Aussie player surpassed Wally Hammond's record of 905 runs set in 1928 in Brandman's debut series in Australia. To date, these two are the only players to have gotten past 900 runs in a bilateral Test series.
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Shubman Gill is some distance to surpass Bradman's tally or even Hammond's tally, but he is 118 runs short of beating Mark Taylor's 839 runs scored in the 1989 Ashes series in England. Before setting sights on the former Australia skipper's all-time Test record, the India captain will be vying to break Sunil Gavaskar's 732 runs (which is also the highest ever aggregate achieved by an Indian batter in bilateral Tests).
Most runs by a batter in a bilateral Test series
Runs | Player | Team | Opposition | Venue | Season | Tests | Ave | 100s | Captain? |
974 | Don Bradman | Australia | England | away | 1930 | 5 | 139.14 | 4 | |
905 | Wally Hammond | England | Australia | away | 1928/29 | 5 | 113.12 | 4 | |
839 | Mark Taylor | Australia | England | away | 1989 | 6 | 83.90 | 2 | |
834 | Neil Harvey | Australia | South Africa | home | 1952/53 | 5 | 92.66 | 4 | |
829 | Viv Richards | West Indies | England | away | 1976 | 4 | 118.42 | 3 | |
827 | Clyde Walcott | West Indies | Australia | home | 1955 | 5 | 82.70 | 5 | |
824 | Garry Sobers | West Indies | Pakistan | home | 1957/58 | 5 | 137.33 | 3 | |
810 | Don Bradman | Australia | England | home | 1936/37 | 5 | 90.00 | 3 | Yes |
806 | Don Bradman | Australia | South Africa | home | 1931/32 | 5 | 201.50 | 4 | |
798 | Brian Lara | West Indies | England | home | 1993/94 | 5 | 99.75 | 2 | |
779 | Everton Weekes | West Indies | India | away | 1947/48 | 5 | 111.28 | 4 | |
774 | Sunil Gavaskar | India | West Indies | away | 1970/71 | 4 | 154.80 | 4 | |
774 | Steve Smith | Australia | England | away | 2019 | 4 | 110.57 | 3 | |
769 | Steve Smith | Australia | India | home | 2014/15 | 4 | 128.16 | 4 | |
766 | Alastair Cook | England | Australia | away | 2010/11 | 5 | 127.66 | 3 | |
765 | Brian Lara | West Indies | England | away | 1995 | 6 | 85.00 | 3 | |
761 | Mudassar Nazar | Pakistan | India | home | 1982/83 | 6 | 126.83 | 4 | |
758 | Don Bradman | Australia | England | away | 1934 | 5 | 94.75 | 2 | |
753 | Denis Compton | England | South Africa | home | 1947 | 5 | 94.12 | 4 | |
752 | Graham Gooch | England | India | home | 1990 | 3 | 125.33 | 3 | Yes |
737 | Joe Root | England | India | home | 2021-2022 | 5 | 105.28 | 4 | |
734 | Herbert Sutcliffe | England | Australia | away | 1924/25 | 5 | 81.55 | 4 | |
732 | Aubrey Faulkner | South Africa | Australia | away | 1910/11 | 5 | 73.20 | 2 | |
732 | Sunil Gavaskar | India | West Indies | home | 1978/79 | 6 | 91.50 | 4 | Yes |
732 | David Gower | England | Australia | home | 1985 | 6 | 81.33 | 3 | Yes |
722 | Garry Sobers | West Indies | England | away | 1966 | 5 | 103.14 | 3 | Yes |
722 | Shubman Gill | India | England | away | 2025 | 4 | 90.25 | 4 | Yes |
716 | Everton Weekes | West Indies | India | home | 1952/53 | 5 | 102.28 | 3 | |
715 | Don Bradman | Australia | India | home | 1947/48 | 5 | 178.75 | 4 | Yes |
714 | Graeme Smith | South Africa | England | away | 2003 | 5 | 79.33 | 2 | Yes |
712 | Jacques Kallis | South Africa | West Indies | home | 2003/04 | 4 | 178.00 | 4 | |
712 | Yashasvi Jaiswal | India | England | home | 2023/24 | 5 | 89.00 | 2 | |
709 | Garry Sobers | West Indies | England | home | 1959/60 | 5 | 101.28 | 3 | |
706 | Ricky Ponting | Australia | India | home | 2003/04 | 4 | 100.85 | 2 | |
703 | George Headley | West Indies | England | home | 1929/30 | 4 | 87.87 | 4 | |
702 | Greg Chappell | Australia | West Indies | home | 1975/76 | 6 | 117.00 | 3 | Yes |
Records & leveling series in sight for Shubman Gill
Aside from the record, Gill will also be hoping to level the Test series at Old Trafford in the fifth and final Test. India last won a Test series in England in 2007 under Rahul Dravid's leadership. Since then, they have only faced heartbreaks, with the black mark being a 4-0 drubbing in the 2014 series under MS Dhoni's leadership.
India came close to winning the Test series in 2021, only to be denied a series win due to Johnny Bairstow's special hundred in a run chase in the fifth Test in 2022. While the visitors cannot win the series, a win at Old Trafford will at least enable a draw.