Current India Test captain Shubman Gill has been on a meteoric rise with the bat ever since he took the leadership in the longest format. Gill was bestowed with the Test captaincy ahead of a tough five-match tour to England with a largely young batting line-up after the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the format.
Gill passed with flying colours with 754 runs in 10 innings, including four centuries with a highest score of 269. His 754 runs are the most by an Indian captain in a Test series, 22 more than what Sunil Gavaskar had accumulated during the West Indies series in 1978-79. He has continued his strong run during the West Indies series too, scoring 192 runs in the three innings that he played.
Meanwhile, the youngster shares eerily similar stats with legend Gavaskar during the latter's early days as captain in the format. Having batted in his first 12 innings as captain in the Test format, Gill has accumulated the same number of runs that Gavaskar had hit in the same innings at the start of his captaincy: 933.
While Gill began his captaincy tenure in 2025, Gavaskar's tenure began in 1976 with a Test against New Zealand in 1976 before having a breakout series against the West Indies at home in 1978.
Gavaskar had hit 151 runs during the first two innings as captain against England before having made 732 runs during the six-match series against the Windies in 1978. He made a fifty in his 12th inning to tally 933 runs. Meanwhile, Gill made 933 runs, 754 in the 10 innings in England and 179 in the next two against the Windies to total 933 runs in his first 12 innings as skipper.
The similarities don't end here. Both the players had even scored five centuries each in their first 12 innings as skipper. Both had scored one double century each in those innings.
First 12 innings as captain in Tests:
| Name | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s | HS |
| Shubman Gill | 933 | 84.82 | 1 | 5 | 269 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 933 | 93.30 | 2 | 5 | 205 |
