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 and a Captain's Innings

Shubman Gill marked his first Test as captain with an impressive unbeaten 127 at Headingley Cricket Ground on the opening day of the Test match between India and England.

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

Gill now joins the ranks of Indian cricketing legends like Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Virat Kohli, all of whom have scored centuries in their debut Test as captain.

But here's a fascinating detail: one of Gill's favorite bats was damaged during India's intra-squad match at Beckenham, Kent. India’s new Test captain contacted Cricfix_batservices, a bat repair company based in Kent, via text message.

In a video shared by the company on Instagram, they detailed the damage to Shubman's bat and the repair process.

The shop's owner explained in the video that Shubman had damaged the toe of one of his bats during a training session and needed it repaired before the Test match.

The owner continued, "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.

"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. Then we lightly sanded the bat, as it's one of Shubman's favourites and he didn't want to affect the ping in any way.

"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. 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 commented, "Looks like it's working out for him! 127*." The owner replied, "Not sure whether to be happy or not 😄."

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