Image Credit- BCCI
The Gujarat Titans
are now run by a new management team, with Shubman Gill taking over as captain
from Hardik Pandya. The team has advanced to the finals in both of its previous
two years of competition.
Gill has not played as captain at the highest levels of the game, which adds a
little mystery to how the Titans will go about their business this year even
though he is currently one of the best batters in the world in limited-overs
cricket and is entering the IPL having discovered that his Test game has improved
as well, scoring 452 runs against England in the recently concluded five-match
series.
Ashish Nehra, their
head coach told reporters on Saturday, that he was “very excited to see
how Gill operates.”
“The whole of India, not only me,” he added. “He is that kind of
player. He is someone who is looking to play and looking to do well in all
three formats. So we as a franchise, as a support staff, are really excited to
help him grow as a person more than as a captain. If he grows as a person, then
he will definitely be a better captain going forward.
“And you know, Hardik also did not captain anywhere before he captained
GT. Now there are ten teams. This is not the first example. You will see more
and more people, you know, somebody like Shreyas Iyer, even Nitish Rana did
captaincy for KKR. So this is a great experience for all these guys and let’s
see who capitalises on that and move ahead, again, first as a person then as a
player.”
With 1373 runs at a
strike rate of 147.79, the highest over the last two IPL seasons, Gill is
another important batsman for the Titans. Captaincy, according to their batting
coach Gary Kirsten, is a decent step forward for him.
“I think the leadership is going to be an important role for him and I
know he’s really keen to do the job and we, as coaches, just need to assist him
in making sure he’s getting the best out of his players and he’s leading the
team appropriately and in the way we want him to lead,” Kirsten
said.