Ahmedabad: Shubman Gill needs to grow as a person to be a better captain, stated Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) which starts on March 22. Gill, who was Gujarat Titans’ top run-scorer in IPL 2023, was promoted to captaincy after Hardik Pandya left the franchise for his mother club Mumbai Indians after the auctions last year. For the unknown, Gill has zero captaincy experience.
Like Gill, Pandya too had no captaincy experience when he became the leader in 2022. But what the India all-rounder did on the field with his troops was truly incredible. Not only did he draw comparisons with legendary MS Dhoni, but he also led the side to two consecutive finals including a title.
With Gill scoring the bulk of runs (890, including 3 hundreds), it was logical for Gujarat Titans management to give him the leadership role. “As a new captain, I want to see how he (Gill) operates and not just me, the whole India would like to see because he is that kind of a player,” Nehra said.
“He is looking to play and do well in all three formats, so we as a franchise would like to help him grow more as a person than as a captain. If he grows as a person, he will grow more as a captain going forward and get better and better,” added the former left-arm pacer.
Pressure will be huge on Gill. It remains to be see how he handles both. “Before Hardik joined GT, he had no prior experience of captaining any side. There are 10 IPL teams and you will see more and more new captains. Shreyas Iyer and even Nitish Rana did captaincy for KKR. Let’s see which guy capitalises moving ahead,” Nehra added.
However, the biggest challenge for Gill and Nehra would be to find a perfect replacement for injured pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been ruled out. To add more to that, team’s premier spinner Rashid Khan, too is recovering from a back injury.
“IPL is now a 12-people game (Impact Player added) and to fill in Hardik and Shami’s shoes, it is not going to be easy but we have enough people. We have Umesh Yadav, who have been playing the IPL for more than 12 years,” Nehra said. Gujarat Titans will open their campaign against Mumbai Indians on March 24 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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