IND vs ENG: Broken but beautiful - How Shubman Gill got his century-hitting bat fixed before the first Test

Shubman Gill's Century at Headingley: A Tale of a Repaired Bat

Shubman Gill (right) scored century at Headingley with a repaired bat. (Screengrabs)

Shubman Gill announced his arrival as India's Test captain in style, scoring an impressive, unbeaten 127 against England at Headingley on the first day of the Test match. This century was even more special as it was achieved with a bat that had been repaired just before the match.

Gill's century places him among an exclusive group of Indian cricketers – Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Virat Kohli – who have scored centuries in their first Test as captain.

The story behind the bat is quite remarkable. During India's intra-squad match in Beckenham, Kent, Gill damaged one of his preferred bats. He contacted Cricfix_batservices, a Kent-based company specializing in bat repairs.

In an Instagram video, Cricfix_batservices detailed the damage and the repair process.

The shop owner explained, "We received a text saying that Shubman Gill had damaged the toe of one of his bats during a training session, and he needed us to come and pick it up and sort it out ahead of the Test match."

He further elaborated on the damage: "As you can see, it looks like he had to dig out a nasty yorker during training, and it left this nasty indentation and a couple of splits that we needed to fix."

The repair process involved gluing the cracks and inserting a small wedge to flatten the damaged area. "We made sure to glue up all the cracks and then apply a small wedge into the toe, which pushed up the damaged area and made the toe nice and flat again." The bat was then lightly sanded to avoid affecting its performance.

The owner continued, "Coming to the end of the repair, we gave the bat a buff and polish to make it look nice and shiny. Shubman also asked us to apply some thread binding to the toe to keep the weak area tight, and he opted for a fabric facing, so we applied that as well."

The company concluded, "Here's the finished bat, looking brand new once again — toe repair all sorted. It was really cool to see him using it again in training the next day. I'm wishing him all the best for the series ahead."

A fan's comment, "Looks like it's working out for him! 127*," was met with a humorous reply from the owner, "Not sure whether to be happy or not 😄."

At the end of Day 1, India stood at 359 for 3, with vice-captain Rishabh Pant unbeaten on 65, alongside Gill.