Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra on Tuesday (November 28) said it was on the cards that Shubman Gill would be named Gujarat Titans’ (GT) new captain after Hardik Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians (MI).

Gill was appointed GT’s skipper for the IPL 2024 season. This development came after Hardik was traded to MI by the Titans in an all-cash deal worth INR 15 crore.

Shubman’s elevation to leadership is a testament to his impressive performances in recent times. His stocks have grown by leaps and bounds in domestic and international cricket, especially this year.

Gill was among the top five run-getters in the 2022 edition of IPL while he finished this year’s tournament as the highest run-scorer with 890 runs at a strike rate of 157.80, including three hundreds and four half-centuries.

The classy right-hander is also the most run-getter for India across formats this year. In 29 international innings, he has amassed 1584 runs at an average of 63.36 with five tons and nine fifties.

"Shubman Gill is the new Gujarat Titans captain. A lot of things have happened to him at 23 years of age, which is fascinating and fantastic. It was almost confirmed that Shubman would become the captain as soon as Hardik left," said Chopra while speaking on his YouTube channel.

Even though the Titans have a proven leader like Kane Williamson in their ranks, Chopra feels the New Zealander wouldn't have been an ideal choice as he had dropped himself on several occasions during his tenure with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

"There was a school of thought about whether Kane Williamson should be made the captain. You have an example of Hyderabad already. Kane is such a good person, he drops himself if he is not doing well," he added.

Gujarat Titans squad ahead of IPL 2024 auction: Shubman Gill (captain), Abhinav Manohar, Mohammad Shami, Sai Sudharsan, Mohit Sharma, Kane Williamson, Matthew Wade, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Joshua Little, Rashid Khan.