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Cricket PlayersGill eyes three huge milestones, Pant and Jadeja chase history as India begin landmark 600th Test against Sri Lanka
Gill, Pant and Jadeja eye major records as India face Sri Lanka in Galle, with the series opener also marking the country's historic 600th Test.
India will step into a landmark occasion when Shubman Gill leads the side out against Sri Lanka in the first Test at Galle on Saturday, with the match marking the 600th Test in the country's cricket history. The series opener, scheduled from August 15 to 19, will make India only the third team to reach the 600-Test landmark, after England and Australia. It also arrives at an important stage of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, with Gill's side looking to revive their push for another appearance in the final.
India will be without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the two-Test series because of a knee injury, while Sai Sudharsan has also been withdrawn and replaced by Sarfaraz Khan. The absences have added another layer to a challenging assignment in Galle, but several of India's biggest names will begin the Test within touching distance of significant individual landmarks.
From Rishabh Pant potentially becoming the first Indian to smash 100 Test sixes to Ravindra Jadeja closing in on an extraordinary all-round double, the historic Test could also produce a series of personal milestones.
Rishabh Pant three sixes away from Indian first
Deep Dive
Few Indian batters have altered the tempo of Test cricket quite like Pant, and the wicketkeeper-batter could add another distinction to his already remarkable record in Galle. Pant has struck 97 sixes in 50 Tests and requires only three more to become the first Indian to hit 100 sixes in Test cricket. Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma, two of India's most destructive Test batters, both finished their careers short of the three-figure mark.
Reaching 100 would place Pant in an exceptionally small global club. Only Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum and Adam Gilchrist have struck at least 100 sixes in men's Test cricket. Stokes currently leads the list with 138, followed by McCullum's 107 and Gilchrist's 100. Pant demonstrated his willingness to go aerial during India's warm-up game as well, hitting three sixes in the second innings against the Sri Lanka Cricket XI. A repeat in the first Test would be enough to carry him into history.
Ravindra Jadeja closing in on 350 Test wickets
Ravindra Jadeja has an even more substantial landmark within immediate reach. The 37-year-old enters the Test with 348 wickets from 89 matches and needs two more to complete 350 Test wickets. He would become only the fifth Indian bowler to reach the mark, following Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kapil Dev and Harbhajan Singh.
The number becomes considerably more impressive when combined with Jadeja's batting record. He already owns 4,095 Test runs. Two wickets in Galle would therefore make him only the fourth player in Test history to complete the double of 4,000 runs and 350 wickets, joining Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Daniel Vettori.
For a player whose career has increasingly been defined by his ability to influence Tests with both disciplines, it would underline Jadeja's place among the game's great all-rounders. Sri Lanka also offer Jadeja an opportunity to climb another historical list. The left-arm spinner has taken 33 wickets in seven Tests against them at an average of 23.72. Four wickets in Galle would carry him past Ishant Sharma's tally of 36 and into the top five among India's leading Test wicket-takers against Sri Lanka. There could even be a smaller batting landmark along the way: Jadeja has struck 398 Test fours and requires two more to complete 400.
Shubman Gill eyes multiple landmarks in India's 600th Test
Shubman Gill could hardly have asked for a more symbolic match in which to complete 3,000 Test runs. The India captain begins the series with 2,969 runs from 41 Tests and needs only 31 more to reach the landmark. Gill has 11 centuries and eight half-centuries in the format and averages 43.03 heading into Galle.
His World Test Championship numbers make the first Test even more significant. Gill has accumulated 950 runs from just 14 innings in the ongoing 2025-27 WTC cycle, at an average of 79.16. Fifty more runs would make him the first Indian captain to score 1,000 runs in a single WTC cycle. Virat Kohli came closest previously, scoring 934 runs as captain during the inaugural 2019-21 edition.
Only Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma have previously scored 1,000 runs for India in a single WTC cycle, irrespective of captaincy. An even bigger WTC record is available if Gill produces a substantial Test with the bat.
He currently has 2,843 runs across the history of the World Test Championship, the most by an Indian, leaving him 157 short of 3,000. Should Gill aggregate 157 runs across his innings in Galle, he would become the first Indian batter to reach 3,000 WTC runs. Gill also sits on 47 Test sixes, meaning three maximums would bring up another personal landmark of 50.
Siraj has an outside chance at 150 wickets
Mohammed Siraj, meanwhile, will arrive in Galle carrying greater responsibility in Bumrah's absence. The pacer has 140 wickets from 46 Tests and therefore needs 10 wickets in the match to reach 150. It is a demanding target, particularly at a venue traditionally associated with spin, but a ten-wicket match would take Siraj to another major career landmark.
India's 600th Test already carries historical significance before a ball has been bowled. But with Pant chasing a six-hitting first, Jadeja sitting two wickets from an elite all-round feat, and Gill approaching several major batting milestones, Galle could become memorable for considerably more than the number attached to the match itself.
