• Source:JND
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IND vs SA 1st Test: Shubman Gill will be leading the team from the front in the two-match Test series against South Africa, which is all set to begin later this week in Kolkata. During the series opener, the youngster from Punjab will be on the verge of breaking Sunil Gavaskar's record of being the fastest Indian skipper to have scored 1000 runs in the longest format.

He made his Test captaincy debut against England in Leeds, where Gill scored 946 runs after playing in 13 innings in seven matches. If he can score 54 runs in the series opener, then he will be the fastest Indian skipper to have scored 1000 runs in the longest format.

In his playing days, Gavaskar achieved this milestone in 15 innings as the Indian skipper in the longest format.

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If Gill, who had hit 4 tons in the Test series against England and one against West Indies last month, can smash at least one hundred against SA, then he will break Virat Kohli's record of smashing the most Test hundreds as an Indian skipper in a single year.

In 2017, Kohli represented India in 10 Tests as skipper and smashed five tons, whereas Gill has scored five hundreds after playing in seven Test matches as skipper this year.

Most 100s for India as Test captain in a calendar year

PLAYER YEAR MATCHES 100s
Virat Kohli 2017 10 5
Virat Kohli 2018 13 5
Shubman Gill 2025 7 5
Virat Kohli 2016 12 4
Sachin Tendulkar 1997 12 4

If Gill can smash two more hundreds against South Africa, then he will level Sachin Tendulkar's record of playing in 14 Test matches till now and has hit seven tons.

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Most Test centuries in a calendar year for India

PLAYER YEAR MATCHES RUNS 100s
Sachin Tendulkar 2010 14 1562 7
Sunil Gavaskar 1978 8 1099 5
Shubman Gill 2025 8 979 5
Virat Kohli 2017 10 1059 5
Sachin Tendulkar 1999 10 1088 5
Rahul Dravid 2011 12 1145 5
Virat Kohli 2018 13 1322 5
Virender Sehwag 2010 14 1422 5
Gundappa Viswanath 1979 17 1388 5
Rahul Dravid 2002 16 1357 5
Sunil Gavaskar 1983 18 1310 5

Mohammad Yousuf has the record of smashing the most Test hundreds in this format. In 2009, he had hit 9 tons after playing in 11 Test matches while representing Pakistan.

If Gill scores 161 runs in the series opener, then he will become the first Indian and second Asian batter besides Babar Azam to have scored 3000 runs in the WTC.

Most runs in WTC for India

PLAYER MATCHES RUNS BEST 100/50
Shubman Gill 39 2839 269 10/8
Rishabh Pant 38 2731 146 6/16
Rohit Sharma 40 2716 212 9/8
Virat Kohli 46 2617 254* 5/11
Ravindra Jadeja 46 2505 175* 5/17

Most runs in WTC by Asian batters

PLAYER TEAM MATCHES RUNS BEST AVERAGE
Babar Azam Pakistan 38 3129 196 47.40
Shubman Gill India 39 2839 269 43.01
Rishabh Pant India 38 2731 146 43.34
Rohit Sharma India 40 2716 212 41.15
Dimuth Karunaratne Sri Lanka 35 2642 244 40.64

Till now, Gill has scored 2839 runs after playing in 72 innings of 39 matches of the WTC. He is India's highest run-scorer in WTC and also has the record of smashing the most tons in WTC.

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