Impressions, entrances and a bright beginning

Shubman Gill smiled when asked about the style his Test team will play. "You'll know in August," he said, at his first pre-match press conference as India's Test captain. But when asked about his goals with the bat, he shunned all mystery. "Whenever I'm going out there, I want to dominate the opposition and be the best batsman in the series."

The first day of the five-match Test series didn't offer a window into Gill the captain. But Gill the batter, calm, assured, quietly ruthless, ensured his first day at the helm ended with a statement that landed hard: an unbeaten 127, his most complete knock away from home since that 91 at the Gabba.

Day 1 at Headingley, in fact, was one shaped by two first impressions. One from the new captain at No.4. The other from a young opener making his first Test appearance in England. Yashasvi Jaiswal's century had its own rhythm, its own message. Between their innings, a day unfolded, not in quiet transition, but in bold arrival.

First to Gill, because there was more on his plate. Leadership, scrutiny, and a batting average that had pushed an asterisk into conversations around his elevation. The match situation only sharpened the spotlight. After a 91-run opening stand between Jaiswal and KL Rahul, India lost two wickets for 1 run in 12 manic minutes before lunch.

Then, after the interval, came the first sighting of India's new No.4 taking purposeful steps to the crease: white compression top beneath a cream-tinged jersey, black socks under his pads, and an MRF-stickered bat with a matching red grip, a figure that cut through the early-afternoon hum with quiet authority.

The Western Terrace, always loud, was in full voice. Refreshed by their pre-lunch surge and some movement in the air, England came hard. Steve Waugh once wrote about how, in India, the second wicket would fall and Tendulkar would already be in before you could gather your thoughts. Here, the noise was local, the No.4 new, but the rhythm felt eerily familiar.

When Gill walked out, Jaiswal was on 42. Forty-five minutes into the session, Jaiswal reached 53, and Gill was already on 40. The tempo lifted. The anxiety lifted. The innings lifted.

England had tried the inswinger, the old bugbear. But Gill's footwork was neat, the bat flow exact. Starting just outside the crease, he moved forward in defence with soft hands and a still head, meeting the ball under his eyes. When he drove, it was all timing, no tension. His hundred, only the fifth by an Indian on Test captaincy debut, arrived with a cover drive sweet enough to honour his predecessor at No.4.

At the other end, Jaiswal, making his own kind of entrance in a new country, was busy crafting another lasting first impression. In three of the four countries he's now toured - West Indies, Australia, and England - he's scored a hundred in his first Test. It's the kind of versatility that should earn him a place in any early list of the next era 'Fab Four'.

He punished width with a ruthlessness that bordered on ridiculous: 90 of his 101 runs came through the off side. He left well at the start and moved up and down gears as needed. And yet, it wasn't without struggle. England targeted his ribs with a leg-side-heavy field and got him cramped up his side-on stance. He struggled with cramps in his right forearm. But he endured. And eventually raised his fifth Test hundred in his 20th match.

Yes, England's attack looked underpowered and rusty. Their fast bowlers, fresh off a long break from red-ball cricket, didn't seem to have enough overs in their legs. The discipline wavered and the pitch was mostly benign. But this was still a Test in England, with a Dukes ball that moved, at least in the air.

And still, India walked off at stumps on 359 for 3. But the story wasn't just about the runs or the hundreds. It was about the two who made them.

Two boys who recently topped the run charts for India at Under-19 World Cups, two years apart. Two players shaped by the modern T20 era, both coming off successful IPL campaigns that finished barely three weeks ago. Now, two men expected to carry the torch of Indian Test batting, and sit front and centre in team photographs for the next decade.

It's only the first day and sterner tests surely lie ahead, but in a sun-bathed Headingley Stadium, they made their first impression, and gave it the weight of something built to last.