"You have to acknowledge that he is a young captain" - Vikram Solanki on Shubman Gill - Cricket Winner

Gujarat Titans have tasted a fair share of success in the Indian Premier League. Coming into the cash-rich league, they won the title in the very first year in 2022. In the second year, they finished second as they lost to Chennai Super Kings in the final. However, these two seasons were played under Hardik Pandya. But ahead of IPL 2024, he returned to his old franchise, Mumbai Indias and Shubman Gill has been named captain.

Under Shubman Gill, Gujarat Titans have seen a mixed tournament so far as they won 4 games and lost 6 so far as well. And, they placed 7th in the points table as well.

However, in a recent chat with Cricbuzz, GT’s Director of Cricket, Vikram Solanki, shared his views on this.

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He said, “Things happen at a given time for a particular reason – that could be because of form, fitness, selection. People get selected and into positions of leadership… it’s never a sort of script that you write that is ideal, that you can sort of follow from start to finish. Things happen and you have to react to that. As far as Shubman’s concerned, he’s given a good account of himself as far as captaincy is concerned.

You have to acknowledge that he is a young captain and there are going to be things that he has to learn along the way. You always have to start somewhere, plain and simple as that. Whatever it is you start out on, there’s a first. And that’s the case with Shubman. It’s his first year in a sort of leadership role if you like. I am sure he’s taken on leadership at times when he’s played with teams that he’s been a part of.”

He further added, “But effectively having ‘captain’ next to his name, this is the first time. I think so far he’s given a good account of himself. I don’t think his performance is affected or anything like that… I thought he’s batting pretty well. I thought he played particularly well in a couple of instances. He’s been practicing just as much.

We’re looking forward to Shubman leading this team for the rest of this tournament and I am sure it’s a matter of time before you acknowledge that leadership might as well bring out the best in Shubman instead of thinking if it is too early or too late. He’s an exceptional character, he’s a fine, fine batter. He’s somebody that gives a lot of thought to the game. All of those qualities go towards somebody that you would suggest will have a successful time as captain. We look forward to that being the case.”