Shubman Gill breaks Gary Sobers' 59-year-old Test record in fifth Test vs England

London:

India captain Shubman Gill shattered a 59-year-old Test record held by West Indies legend Gary Sobers during the fifth Test against England at The Oval. Sobers had set the record for the most runs by a captain in a Test series in SENA countries, scoring 722 runs during the 1966 tour of England. On the current tour, Gill not only surpassed Sobers’ long-standing milestone in the sixth ball he faced on Day 1.

The 25-year-old has been phenomenal in the ongoing series, leading the team from the front. He has scored four centuries, including a double ton on his debut series as captain. Gill now needs one more ton to join Clyde Walcott on the list of most centuries scored in a single Test series. The former West Indies international has five to his name during the 1955 tour of West Indies.

England win toss and bowl first

Meanwhile, Gill lost all five tosses in the ongoing series. In the fifth Test, England won the toss and elected to bowl first. The hosts made four changes to the playing XI as captain Ben Stokes was ruled out following a shoulder injury. In his absence, Ollie Pope is leading the team in London. Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse have been rested for Jamie Overton and Gus Atkinson. Meanwhile, Jacob Bethell replaced Liam Dawson.

India also made four changes to the squad. Jasprit Bumrah and Anshul Kamboj were dropped from the bowling unit as Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep made their return to the XI. All-rounder Shardul Thakur was dropped as the visitors wanted to play an extra batter in Karun Nair and lastly, Dhruv Jurel replaced the injured Rishabh Pant.

However, India had a poor start to the day as Jaiswal and Rahul fell cheaply, scoring 2 and 14 runs respectively. India were reduced to 38/2 with Gus Atkisnon and KL rahul picking up a wicket each.