Indian Batters to Score Centuries on Test Captaincy Debut

India is known as a country that produces world-class batters. From Vijay Hazare to Sunil Gavaskar, Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, and now Virat Kohli to Shubman Gill, India has been fortunate to see the baton being passed swiftly.

To add to that majority of these batters have gone on to become successful captains as well, who have led by example with both bat and in the field.

In this article, we will look at Indian Batters to Score Centuries on their Test Captaincy Debut.

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Indian Batters to Score Centuries on Test Captaincy Debut

Shubman Gill

The newly appointed skipper of India in Test cricket, Shubman Gill, played a magnificent knock of 147 runs against England on his captaincy debut in Tests and became the fifth Indian batter to do so.

Shubman, who was under immense pressure before the match due to his poor record in overseas conditions, also scored his first century in Test cricket and formed crucial partnerships with Jaiswal and Pant.

The Indian captain capitalized on the good start he got in the series and scored another century in the second Test of the five-match series, and converted that into a score of 250 plus, the highest by an Indian captain.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli played a fighting knock of 115 runs in the first Test of the four-match series in Adelaide to register his name in the list of Indian captains to score a century on Test captaincy debut.

Kohli, who was struggling to get runs in the longest format of the game before that particular series and had a horrific time in England, scored another century in the second innings.

Although India lost the match in the end but Kohli's century in both innings of the game was a sneak peek into what was to come in the next few years.

Kohli became the fourth Indian captain to score a century on debut as the Test captain of the team. The right-hander was appointed as the full-time captain of the Test team in the last Test of the same series.

Dilip Vengsarkar

The only Indian batter to score multiple Test centuries at Lords, Dilip Vengsarkar, is among the Indian captains to score a century on Test captaincy debut. He did so against the West Indies in 1987.

The batter scored 102 runs against a strong West Indies bowling lineup, which included four fast bowlers who were at the peak of their careers.

Sunil Gavaskar

The first player to score 10000 Test runs, Sunil Gavaskar, finds himself in the elite list of Indian captains to score centuries on Test captaincy debut.

Gavaskar scored 116 runs in the first Test against New Zealand in Auckland in 1976 as India posted a total of 414 runs on the board.

The opening batter was supported by the Amarnath brothers Surinder and Mohinder as the former scored a century and the latter a half-century.

Vijay Hazare

Former Indian captain Vijay Hazare was the first indian captain to score a century on Test captaincy debut. Hazare scored 164 runs against England in Delhi in 1951.

Hazare helped India take a memorable lead after bowling the visitors out for 203 runs in the first innings.

The Indian captain was well supported by Vijay Merchant, who also scored 154 runs and batted England out of the match.