Rohit Sharma stopped Yashasvi Jaiswal from becoming his biggest enemy; Shubman Gill saw Prithvi Shaw slip and climbed up

Yashasvi Jaiswal must feel Test cricket is a breeze. Twenty matches, more than 1,900 runs, five centuries, three of them overseas. Not just overseas, but in his first appearance in each of those lands – in the Caribbean (Roseau, 2023), in Australia (Perth, 2024) and now in England (Leeds). India's Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubhman Gill during the 1st test match against England(@BCCI X)

For Shubman Gill, life in the fast lane hasn’t been as rewarding. At 25, he is two years older than the opener from Mumbai. Until Friday, the stylist had five hundreds from 32 games, but none outside Asia. Indeed, since making 91 in Brisbane in January 2021, in his maiden series, he hadn’t scored a half-century in 18 innings in the West Indies, England, South Africa and Australia. He must have felt the pinch when he debuted as India’s 37th Test captain at Headingley.

The high-flying left-hander and the composed right-hander joined hands to headline a day of supreme domination in Indian cricket’s first day in its latest transitional chapter. To play lead roles in a day-one tally of 359 for three must be immensely satisfying. Jaiswal will follow the progress of his batting colleagues from the dressing-room, having been dismissed for 101 in the post-tea session but Gill, who became only the fifth Indian to score a hundred on captaincy debut, can build on his unbeaten 127, just one short of his highest Test score.

Tim Southee, the former New Zealand fast bowler and captain who is now a special skills consultant with the English setup, invoked ‘very good surface’ more than a half-dozen times during his brief interaction with the media on Friday evening. There is no denying that that is exactly what the 22-yard strip is. But it’s one thing being gifted first use of a batting beauty, quite another to make the most of the gift, given that the focus in the lead-up has been more on the two men who aren’t here – the recently retired duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – than the several that are.

It was under and alongside Rohit that Jaiswal blossomed as a Test opener; the older, wiser, more mature and prescient Rohit saw in his younger mate an outstanding talent whose greatest enemy was potentially himself. The then skipper left no stone unturned in ensuring that his opening colleague didn’t allow himself to get carried away by success. From all indications, Rohit’s hasn’t been an effort in vain.

Discipline has never been an issue with Gill. Right from his Under-19 days, he was earmarked for greater things along with his captain when India won the junior World Cup in New Zealand in 2018. Prithvi Shaw has fallen by the wayside, a victim of his own dalliances. Gill, by contrast, has climbed up and up, his new-found status as Test skipper a vote of confidence from the decision-makers not just in his skills, but also his temperament and man-management abilities.

Total domination

Between them, Jaiswal and Gill ran Ben Stokes’ England ragged on day one of the first Test. Jaiswal had first bite at the cherry, so to speak, alongside the phlegmatic KL Rahul. Their 91-run opening salvo dispelled the opening-day blues, it settled the nerves in the hut, it put things in perspective. Rahul was the rapier in that alliance, driving gloriously through the covers; Jaiswal was more the broadsword, crunching rasping cuts when England offered him width, though he did delight the aesthete too with peachy drives down the straight field when the bowlers went full in looking for swing.

Gill falls in the Rahul mould, all easy, languid, effortless grace. Where Rahul is immensely attractive off the front foot, Gill is quite the master of the back, be it when he rocks back and crisply meets the ball with an almost vertical bat as he directs it through point or when he plays the short-arm jab-pull which is quintessentially Gill. Taking to captaincy with practised ease, he began with aggressive intent devoid of frills and adventurism, compensating for Jaiswal’s battles with an attack of cramps in both forearms.

Gill celebrated with gusto when Jaiswal reached his hundred, and must have been a trifle disappointed when his partner was dismissed not long thereafter by an excellent delivery from Stokes after a stand of 129. Swiftly sussing up the changed dynamic, he focussed on barndoor defence for a while – just a while, as Rishabh Pant got his eye in – and then surged ahead on the back of a second wind, keeping his tryst with his first non-Asia hundred with the most mellifluous of cover-drives against Josh Tongue.

Not bad for his first day in office as a Test captain. One was about to say, ‘Take a bow, Shubman’ when that’s exactly what he did – with his trademark celebration. The first of many bows from the skipper, you say?

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