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India national cricket team captain Shubman Gill carried his excellent IPL 2026 form into Test cricket as the youngster achieved a significant feat on the first day of the ongoing one-off Test against the Afghanistan national cricket team on Saturday, June 6.
Gill recently led Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2026 final, where they lost the trophy to RCB. But he was in sensational form, finishing the tournament as the second leading run scorer with 732 runs in 16 innings at an impressive average of 45.75 and a strike rate of over 163.
Shubman Gill wrote history in India vs Afghanistan test
After India got a strong start from the top order, Shubman Gill looked calm, confident and in complete control as captain on the first day of the ongoing one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Maharaja Yadvendra Singh International Cricket Stadium.
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The right-handed batsman completed his half-century in 68 balls during the final session of the first day. This was the ninth Test half-century of his career. With this innings, Gill completed 1,000 Test runs as India captain.
The feat became even more special as after being appointed captain on May 24, 2025, Shubman Gill completed 1,000 Test runs in a short span of 379 days as the Indian captain.
Only the great Sunil Gavaskar took fewer innings than Gill to reach 1,000 Test runs as Indian captain. Earlier, Gill won the toss for the second time in his last nine Test matches.
Shubman Gill opens up about the tough transition from IPL to Test
Meanwhile, the Indian players come into this Test match after playing two months of T20I cricket and Shubman Gill admitted that it was not easy adjusting to red-ball cricket from the IPL. However, the Punjab player, who is leading India for the first time on his home ground, stressed that after a few days of proper rest, the players are feeling fresh and ready for the match.
Gill said at the toss, “The preparation has been very good. To be honest, the only thing that has been a little difficult is waking up at the time we were supposed to be sleeping instead of sleeping late at night. But I got a good few days of sleep, and I think everyone is pretty fresh and ready to go.”
Gill aims to find the right combination ahead of busy Test season
The Indian captain said the team is looking to find the right combination and improve as a batting group through this one-off Test against Afghanistan ahead of the busy Test season.
“After that, nine Test matches, we play two against Sri Lanka and five at home. So, we have a lot of Test matches at home and similar conditions, I would say, in Sri Lanka and India. So we are just trying to get our combination right and as a batting group there are a lot of things we need to prove, especially here. So those are the things we are focusing on,” Gill said.
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