Top five Test captains by batting average featuring Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill made his debut as India’s Test captain in the first Test against England on 20th June 2025, and his batting average while captaining—71.87—places him second among Test captains behind Sir Donald Bradman.

Test cricket is widely regarded as the most demanding format of the game and combining batting with captaincy adds further pressure on players; several of the sport’s leading Test batters have maintained high averages while serving as captain. Gill assumed the India captaincy after Rohit Sharma’s retirement and the original report states he has led the side by example, scoring prolifically since taking the role.

Mahela Jayawardene ranks fifth on the list, recording a Test captaincy average of 59.11.

Steve Smith is fourth with a Test average of 68.07 while captaining Australia in over 77 innings.

Kumar Sangakkara appears just behind Shubman Gill on the list, having averaged 69.90 as a Test captain across 26 innings.

As captain of India, Gill has scored 1150 runs across 18 innings.

Sir Donald Bradman tops the compilation with a Test captaincy average of 101.51; the article also notes that Virat Kohli is India’s most successful Test captain with 40 wins in 68 matches as captain.

Subhomoy Datta has been a sports writer since 2022 and holds a BSc in Microbiology from Rastraguru Surendranath College, WBSU. He is currently pursuing his master’s at NIT Surathkal.