How captaincy fueled Shubman Gill’s rise as India’s new machine

Shubman Gill’s rise from rookie to reliable captain Shubman Gill, the face of the Indian cricket team and the man appointed as the captain of both the Test and ODI sides, clearly justified the BCCI’s decision. Since taking over the captaincy, Gill has transformed from a promising opener into one of India’s most reliable batsmen in the longer formats.In less than a month, Shubman Gill has already scored three centuries across different formats.He hit his maiden century against Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 on 29 May when he scored 196.23. Just a week later, in a one-off Test against Afghanistan on 6 June, Gill registered another hundred, a patient knock that marked his 11th Test century. Just 10 days later in the second ODI on 17 June, he made his first century since taking over as permanent ODI captain. Gill smashed 22 fours and two sixes and, despite falling short of a double century, anchored India to a massive total of 402 to seal the series win.All three centuries came as captain, raising an interesting question: was Gill already on this trajectory before management, or did captaincy unlock the next level of his game?With Afghanistan currently touring India for a Test and ODI series, Gill has already amassed 364 runs in just three innings at home with a staggering 182 knocks. However, this is not the first time his score has gone up as a captain.Eighteen months ago, he averaged 35 points in tests, and critics often call him serially unattainable. Then India handed him the Test and ODI captaincy and he started rewriting the record books.Gill’s first captaincy assignment came on the tour of England where he went down in the history books like no Indian captain before him. Ahead of the 2025 tour of England, Gill was something of an enigma. After 32 Tests, he averaged just 35.05 – common figures for a player of his immense talent. In fact, only one player in Test history with a lower average after 32 Tests, Chris Gayle, finished with a career average above 40.

Then came the armband.

In 2025, his first year as captain, Gill scored 983 runs in nine Tests at an average of 70.21, almost double his previous mark and the steepest pre-post jump of any Indian captain in the modern era.

Shubman Gill has overtaken his idol Virat Kohli

Shubman Gill has never hidden his admiration for Virat Kohli and the cricketing world knows the standard Kohli set as India’s Test captain. In his first major assignment as Test captain after MS Dhoni stepped down in 2014, Kohli scored 692 runs in the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.But Gill did even better. In five Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Tests, he amassed 754 runs at an average of 75.40, winning the Player of the Series award and surpassing Kohli. This made him the first Asian batsman to score more than 700 runs in a Test series in a SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) country.The centerpiece of this campaign was Edgbaston. Gill scored 269 in the first innings – the highest Test score by an Indian captain and the highest by any Indian batsman in a Test outside Asia – before adding 161 in the second innings. His match total of 430 remains the second highest by any batsman in a single Test, behind only Graham Gooch’s 456.India won the match by 336 runs and Gill became the first Asian captain to record a Test win at Edgbaston.Gill’s first Test captaincy ended in a 2–2 draw, but he bounced back by leading India to a clean sweep of the West Indies at home later that year. He ended the series with an unbeaten 129 in Delhi, another innings that highlighted his growing authority as captain.

IPL on top from the captain

Shubman Gill’s best IPL season statistically came in 2023 when he was not captain and scored 890 runs. However, he was handed the captaincy of Gujarat Titans in 2024, his first major leadership assignment in franchise cricket.The first season was difficult as he managed only 426 runs in 12 innings. But in the following year, he seemed to accept responsibility. Gill scored 650 runs and led Gujarat Titans to the playoffs. He followed this up with another excellent campaign in IPL 2026, scoring 732 runs in 16 innings to once again lead his team to the playoffs.Gill, a rookie at first, gradually became more confident, his intent clearer and his performances even better.

India Tour of Australia

Shubman Gill’s first series as India’s permanent ODI captain did not go as planned. He managed just 43 runs in three innings as India lost the series 2–1.The tourists avoided a clean sweep thanks to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who delivered in the third and final ODI. Unlike England, Gill struggled to adapt to the Australian conditions and was unable to make a significant impact.

South Africa tour of India

Shubman Gill endured a tough and injury-plagued tour of India in November and December 2025. His campaign was marred by a neck injury sustained during the first Test in Kolkata, where he retired with an injury on the 4th and was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the Test series.He missed the second Test in Guwahati altogether.After recovering, Gill returned to the ODI series and produced mixed returns, scoring 28, 11 and 50 in three matches to help India secure a 2–1 series win.However, the T20I leg turned out to be one of the toughest phases of his career. Gill managed scores of 0, 0, 8 and 4 in four appearances, including back-to-back golden ducks in the opening two matches. He was rested in the fifth and final T20I as India wrapped up the series 3–1.Even after two difficult series, Gill’s average and totals remain ahead of India’s last three full-time captains — Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni.Does management really elevate a batsman or did Gill simply mature at the same time he became captain?The pattern is mixed. Kohli’s Test average rose from around 39.5 before the captaincy to 54.8 as captain. Dhoni’s numbers also improved marginally. Gill’s rise was even steeper. However, Rohit Sharma, whose average dropped from 46.87 to 30.58 after taking charge, serves as a cautionary tale.The captain, based on evidence, often matches the better batsmen, but does not guarantee anything. The final verdict on Gill’s captaincy era is years away.

Is Shubman Gill a worthy successor to Virat Kohli’s captaincy legacy?

Gill’s captaincy numbers have been impressive but come from a relatively small sample of nine Tests and a handful of ODIs. The 0-2 defeat to South Africa also requires context as he withdrew injured in the first Test and missed the second, captained by Rishabh Pant.His West Indies returns were boosted by an unbeaten 129 in Delhi, while the pre-induction averages of Kohli, Rohit and Dhoni are rough estimates rather than exact statistical cutoffs. Similarly, Gill’s ODI captaincy record remains too limited for meaningful long-term comparisons.Yet, taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that the captaincy brought a more aggressive and confident version of Gill to the fore. His performances and scoring have skyrocketed since he took over.Shubman Gill has scored 1,662 international runs as captain at an excellent average of 69.25 compared to the 5,476 international runs he amassed before receiving the armband.

Tests

Before captaincy: 60 innings, 1,893 runs, average 33.21After captaincy: 15 innings, 1,076 runs, average 71.73

ODI

Before captaincy: 55 innings, 2,775 runs, average 59.04After captaincy: 8 innings, 416 runs, average 59.43