IND vs SL: India captain Shubman Gill eyes 3,000 WTC runs, historic 1,000-run feat against Sri Lanka

India captain Shubman Gill will get the opportunity to set a unique record during the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka that will get underway on 15 August.

Both the Tests will be part of the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, making it a crucial series for both teams. India are in fifth place in the WTC standings with a points percentage (PCT) of 48.15.

Shubman Gill eyes special milestones

Should Shubman Gill score 157 runs in the Test series against Sri Lanka, he will become the first Indian batter to score 3000 runs in the history of the World Test Championship (WTC) tournament.

The Punjab batter currently leads the Indian batters' run-scoring charts in the WTC, with 2843 runs from 73 innings at an average of 43.07.

Rishabh Pant is in second place with 2780 runs from 71 innings, and he is followed by two former India captains in Rohit Sharma (2716 runs from 69 innings) and Virat Kohli (2617 runs in 79 innings). Overall, England skipper Joe Root leads the World Test Championship run-getters' chart with 6651 from 142 innings at an average of 51.16.

The 26-year-old will also get the chance to become the first Indian captain to score 1000 runs in a single WTC cycle. Gill has so far aggregated 950 runs from 14 innings at an average of 79.16, and needs just 50 runs to achieve the milestone.

Virat Kohli is the only other Indian captain who has previously come close to achieving the milestone, after he aggregated 934 runs from 24 innings in the inaugural edition of the WTC during the 2019-21 season.

Shubman Gill will also look to become the fourth Indian batter to score 1000 runs or more in a single WTC cycle.

So far, Yashasvi Jaiswal (1798 runs in 2023-25), Ajinkya Rahane (1159 runs in 2019-21) and Rohit Sharma (1094 runs in 2019-21) are the only Indians to have done so. Gill himself had come close to the feat in the 2023-25 WTC cycle, when he finished with 972 runs from 29 innings.

Shubman Gill recently sustained a finger injury to his right hand, adding to India’s growing list of injury concerns.

However, he eased those worries by coming out to bat in India’s second innings of their practice match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI, scoring 44 runs from 54 deliveries.

Galle will host the first Test between Sri Lanka and India from 15 August, followed by the second Test in Colombo from 23 August.