Gill becomes first Indian to achieve rare feat after slamming century on Day 1 against Afghanistan

India captain Shubman Gill continued his fine run with the bat on Saturday, slamming his 11th Test hundred and remaining unbeaten on 103 off 143 deliveries on Day 1 of the first Test against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh. Gill had a red-hot run in the Indian Premier League recently, with the Gujarat Titans captain finishing as the leading run-scorer for his team with 732 runs at a strike rate of 163.02.

And on Saturday, Gill was batting just as comfortably against the red ball as he was against the white ball over the past couple of months, adding yet another Test ton to his collection and sharing an unbroken 121-run stand for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant.

Gill breaks Tendulkar's record

Along the way, Gill completed 1,000 runs as Test captain, becoming the first Indian to achieve the feat in the span of a year, and the 11th overall. GIll has achieved the feat in just 351 days, 54 fewer than previous record holder Sachin Tendulkar.

More from Firstcricket

The top-order batter, who hails from Punjab and brought up a fine hundred in front of his home crowd with his family in attendance, had succeeded Rohit Sharma as Test skipper ahead of the England tour last year. The 26-year-old would then go on to break records in his maiden series as skipper, finishing the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy as the leading run-scorer with 754 runs in five Tests.

Gill also slammed an unbeaten 129 in the second and final Test against West Indies in Delhi last October. The skipper, however, would remain sidelined for a majority of the two-Test series against South Africa due to a neck spasm suffered in the first match in Kolkata, with Pant filling in as captain in his absence.

Gill, incidentally, wasn't the only Indian batter making merry against an Afghan attack missing star leg-spinner Rashid Khan, with KL Rahul (100 off 165) celebrating his promotion to the role of vice-captain with a century, only to depart right after completing the milestone.

B Sai Sudharsan scored 81 while Pant was batting on 50 off 70 balls, having brought up his fifty shortly before close of play as the hosts ended Day 1 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium on 368/3 after 85 overs.