Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra said that he is very excited to see how new captain Shubman Gill operates. Gill replaced Hardik Pandya as GT captain after Pandya, who won the IPL title in 2022 and took them to the final in 2023, moved to Mumbai Indians in an all-cash deal.
Overlooking experienced candidates like Matthew Wade, Kane Williamson and Rashid Khan, Gujarat Titans have punted on Shubman Gill as their new captain.
Gill has had a fair share of experience in leading a side following his stints as a skipper for Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the 2019-20 season and the India A side during their tour of New Zealand in early 2020.
"Very excited to see how Gill operates. The whole of India, not only me. 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," GT coach Nehra told reporters as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Doubts remain over his potential to lead GT in the IPL. Nehra backed Gill by stating numerous players like Hardik, Shreyas Iyer, and Nitish Rana who guided their teams to success while taking captaincy charge for the first time.
"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 capitalizes on that and move ahead, again, first as a person then as a player," Nehra said.
The batting coach of Gujarat Titans, Gary Kirsten feels that Gill can develop further as captaincy would be a great step 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.
He's a quality player. He's a thoroughly nice person. He's got massive motivation and determination as an individual, which we've seen when playing for India. But like any new leader, he's starting from scratch and he's going to be met with challenges along the way and we, as coaches, will just have to assist him along the way," Kirsten said.
GT will open their IPL 2024 tournament against Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians on March 24 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
(ANI inputs)
