The cobwebs of uncertainty surrounding Gujarat Titans ended in one fell swoop on Monday evening, when the team let Hardik Pandya head back to Mumbai Indians, and anointed Shubman Gill as captain for the 2024 IPL season. For nearly 24 hours, the news cycle and social-media speculation focussed on Hardik. It now shifts to Gill, Punjab da puttar, who takes on the responsibility of leading one of the league’s hottest teams at the age of just 24. As a batter, he has been dynamic and devastating and is one of India’s few all-format players. But Gill’s rise to a leadership role may have surprised both purists and fans.
For all those who believe in captains being appointed – first as a deputy, who is groomed for the big job – Gill’s appointment is a head-scratcher. In time, however, Gill may realise that he has inherited more than responsibility from Hardik, who is touted to be India’s next white-ball skipper. What Gujarat’s first captain has left behind is a remarkable legacy of success – 20 regular-season wins and two finals in their two years of existence.
For Gill, the captain’s job is very much a new challenge. He may have led the likes of Suryakumar Yadav – presently captaining India in the T20Is against Australia – in the Deodhar Trophy four seasons ago, but the pressure in the IPL is beyond that of a conventional cooker. You have to let out steam and, at the same time, ensure the rice is not overcooked. When captaining the Titans, Gill will have to be both chief chef, and batting leader.
To be sure, in terms of strategy, Gujarat have been a team with a difference. Not for them the typical templates. The team management entrusted Ashish Nehra, wily left-arm fast bowler, with the chief coach’s job. Nehra, on his good days, was easily one of India’s best pacers. He could have done much more in his international career had it not been for a problematic ankle and frequent breakdowns. Yet, the safe option would have been to give the job to Gary Kirsten, India’s World Cup-winning coach in 2011, with Nehra as his apprentice. Instead, the Titans reversed roles, with Kirsten in the support role.
Nehra the IPL coach has been a revelation. He is not one of those who likes to make bold statements, but his involvement – best illustrated by prowling the boundary and frequent pow-wows with Hardik – has been extremely hands on. His opinion would have carried great weight when it came to naming the next captain. The relationship between Nehra and Gill, both with Punjabi roots, will be interesting to watch.
Gill’s batting was a major part of the lofty standards set by Gujarat, winners in 2022 and denied only by a Ravindra Jadeja heist in 2023. Gill’s World Cup ended with an early dismissal and the bitter taste of defeat, but he deserves much credit for bouncing back from an attack of dengue to make a mark in the competition. Now, as India eye redemption in the short-format World Cup in 2024, Gill’s preparation will involve additional captaincy duty.
Having been part of the IPL for six seasons, the first four with Kolkata Knight Riders, Gill has plenty of experience in the country’s premier T20 league. He has watched various leaders in action, while playing with and against them. Remember too that Hardik’s appointment as captain had stirred the hornet’s nest. After some crass comments in an infamous TV interview, many would have thought Pandya’s captaincy goose had been cooked!
Times change. Hardik was made captain, and he took to the challenge like a fish to water. His fitness, post-injury and surgery, created doubts. But the job that he did for two seasons in his home state banished those, and it was no real surprise that Mumbai saw him as the logical successor to Rohit Sharma.
Imagine a scenario where Hardik becomes the white-ball captain and Gill is groomed as his deputy. That would be good succession planning from the BCCI think-tank. Of course, someone like KL Rahul is also very much in the mix, given his stellar performance in the World Cup.
Those who have watched Gill bat in T20s are aware that he is both bold and beautiful. His stroke production will doubtless be marvelled at once again when the IPL season begins next year. It is hard to imagine him being bogged down by pressure. He bats and conducts himself with a maturity that would have convinced the Titans’ decision-makers that he was the right choice.
For Gill to ascend the throne ahead of Kane Williamson is a big deal. But then, Gill gives the impression of being a team guy who will do whatever it takes to learn the tricks of the captaincy trade, whether that be from Williamson or Nehra. He may be untested but this isn’t a decision that’s likely to come back and haunt Gujarat.