On the first day of the second Test against England, Team India’s batters once again delivered a dominant performance. The second Test, which is being played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, got underway on Wednesday, July 2.
After winning the toss, England requested that the visitors bat first. Early in the innings, starter KL Rahul was removed from the game by Shubman Gill and company. Karun Nair and Yashasvi Jaiswal, however, steadied the ship and placed them in a favorable position.
Although, Karun Nair was later sent back, Jaiswal soldiered on and ended up scoring a half-century. Unluckily he lost a hundred. Captain Gill came next, and smashed the century mark. Ravindra Jadeja was also not out on 41 off 67 balls as India reached day in a good position on its score of 310- 5 in 85 overs with Gill.
Nevertheless, on the first day of the second Test match against England, the Indian batsmen set the following five records or milestones.
Stumps on the opening day of the 2nd Test 🏟️#TeamIndia finish Day 1 with 310/5 on board 👌👌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/Oxhg97g4BF#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/hzMC3Befky
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 2, 20251. Highest score by an Indian opener in Test matches at Edgbaston
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 87 runs off 107 balls, with 13 fours and a strike rate of 81.31. The left-hander shattered a long-standing 51-year-old record, but he was unable to reach a century.
He surpassed former opener Sudhir Nayak’s record for the best score by an Indian opener in Test matches played in Edgbaston, Birmingham. In the second innings of the third Test at Edgbaston in July 1974, Nayak had hit 77 runs off 165 balls against England.
2. Most 50 plus scores by an Indian opener in SENA Tests
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 87-run knock in the first innings of the opening day’s match against England also set a new record. As an opener in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) nations, Jaiswal now has five scores of fifty or more.
He surpassed former Test skipper Rohit Sharma’s record of four such scores with that. Yashasvi Jaiswal is now in possession of the record.
3. Fourth Indian with hundreds in three consecutive Tests against England
As the fourth Indian batsman to reach hundreds in three straight Test matches against England, captain Shubman Gill became a member of an elite list. On the first day, Gill struck 12 fours and was still undefeated at 114 off 216 balls. In the first Test as well, he had scored a century. Gill hit a century in the 5th Test in 2024, the last Test match between the two teams prior to this series.
He was added to this list along with Rahul Dravid (2002 & 2008-2011), Dilip Vengsarkar (1985-1986), and Mohammad Azharuddin (1984-1985).
4. Third Indian captain with hundreds in consecutive Tests against England
Shubman Gill became only the third Indian captain to score hundreds in consecutive Tests against England. He scored 147 runs in the opening innings of the first Test of the current series before hitting his undefeated century here in the second Test.
In the past, only two other national captains have accomplished this feat against England. The first person to accomplish this was Vijay Hazare, who scored hundreds in both Delhi and Brabourne during the 1951–52 home series. With centuries at Lord’s and Old Trafford during the away series in 1990, Mohammad Azharuddin accomplished the milestone.
5. Hundreds in first two Tests as India captain
In his first two Test matches as captain, Shubman Gill became just the fourth Indian player to reach the hundred-mark. He struck a century in the first innings of the preceding game at Leeds, which was his first Test as captain.
He joined an exclusive group that also included the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Hazare, and Virat Kohli. In his first two Test matches as captain against Australia in 2014–15, Kohli had amassed three hundreds. In 1951, Vijay Hazare accomplished the feat against England. Sunil Gavaskar, meantime, accomplished the feat by scoring hundreds against the West Indies (1978) and New Zealand (1976).
