IND v ENG 2nd Test: How did Shubman Gill get his demons under control in England?

When Shubman Gill started the England tour, he had an appalling average of 14.66 from his last six Test innings there — something which posed a big question over his candidature, let alone new Test captaincy.

After two stellar centuries at Headingley and Edgbaston, though, one may well wonder who writes his script these days.

 If the 147 in first Test saw him defying the choking pressure of expectations of leading a new-look team in the absence of both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the unbeaten innings of 114 on Wednesday, 2 July, was a masterclass on what the BBC called the most ‘secure’ Test century on England soil.

Statistics rolled out by analysts CricViz said that Gill’s innings so far has a false shot percentage of only 3.5 per cent — as against an average of 12 per cent in England from the best of batters.

It’s quite the testimony to the 25-year-old’s determination and hunger to succeed in English conditions — like all batters aspiring to make it to the next level — and the quiet homework that has gone in behind the scenes. The early rewards for have been awe-inspiring, as Gill now joins Vijay Hazare and Mohammad Azharuddin, becoming only the third Indian captain to hit centuries back-to-back in Tests against England.

The early rewards for have been awe-inspiring, as Gill now joins Vijay Hazare and Mohammed Azharuddin, becoming only the third Indian captain to hit centuries back-to-back in Tests against England...

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Hazare, who made his Test captaincy debut against England in Delhi in November 1951, scored 164 in the first innings. He followed it up with a 155 in his very next Test against the same opponent.

Azhar, on the other hand, scored 121 in the first innings of a Lord’s Test in 1990 and chalked up 179 in the next one at Manchester.

The question that begs to be asked is: what is it that Gill has been doing differently ever since he set foot in England almost on the back of the IPL 2025 season?

While the initial plan was for the new captain to join the India A-team — which landed on English soil in early June to play against the England Lions — to acclimatise himself with the conditions, Gill chose to take some downtime instead.

Despite the credit due for his two centuries, as well, there is a bit of a buzz on social media that the England attack was not quite the same without Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. Plus, both venues offered perfect batting conditions, the curmudgeons would add.

While both arguments hold, to some extent, one cannot take away the credit of how diligently Gill has worked on his defence techniques either, to counter the Englishmen’s seam and the swing as well as spin.

Ravi Shastri, TV pundit and former India head coach, has been following Gill since his international debut and told Sky Sports: “He has worked on his defence. When he last came to England he played with hard hands and pushed at the ball. Now, he allows the ball to come and hit the bat. He is trusting his defence.”

It’s an art easier articulated than practised. Gill was clearly ready to play the waiting game in his No. 4 avatar — a spot occupied by the great Sachin Tendulkar and then Virat Kohli for years. Gill took 125 balls to reach his 50 and 199 to reach 100 — both his slowest efforts, but one has to factor in the loss of two quick wickets in vice-captain Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy there.

Gill has often spoken about the need to compartmentalise batting and captaincy, even before this series. It’s something which Virat Kohli did successfully — resulting in his best phase of batsmanship coinciding with his captaincy for a long stint; but the same cannot be said about a number of other big names in Indian cricket.  

It would be speaking too soon after just three innings with Gill as captain, but the early impression are extremely promising. Gill’s innings contained just two outside edges off Chris Woakes — both before he had reached 20 — and an inside edge to Brydon Carse that thwarted an England lbw review. There were three more false shots — meaning any edge, play-and-miss or mishit stroke — to Woakes and two to Ben Stokes... but that was it.

It is, then, a job well begun — but as Gill knows all too well, it’s only half-done yet!

India vs England series: Shubman Gill looks to thrive in his crown of thorns