Ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra is excited to see how Shubman Gill operates as skipper in one of the biggest stages of cricket. After Hardik Pandya made a comeback to his boyhood franchise Mumbai Indians and replaced Rohit Sharma as skipper of the five-time champions, Gill stepped in to fill the vacant space left by Hardik. Gill has gained considerable experience in leading a side after his stints as skipper for Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the 2019-2020 season and the India A side during their tour of New Zealand in early 2020.
Nehra expressed his excitement over Gill's growth as a captain in the upcoming season.
“I am very excited to see how Gill goes about it. All of India, not just me. He is one of those players. He is someone who wants to play and do well in all three formats. So we as a franchise, as a support staff, are very keen to help him grow as a person, more than as a captain. If he grows as a person, he will definitely be a better captain in the future,” Nehra told reporters as quoted by ESPNcricnfo.
Gill has faced numerous challenges in his career. One of the hurdles in his career was replacing Cheteshwar Pujara and adapting to the demands of the No. 3 spot in the Test format.
He thrived in that role during the recently concluded Test series against England, when he amassed 452 runs.
However, doubts remain over his potential to lead GT in the IPL. Nehra backed Gill by naming numerous players like Hardik, Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana, who led their teams to success as they took on the captaincy for the first time.
“And you know, Hardik wasn't captain anywhere before he became captain of GT. Now there are 10 teams. This isn't the first example. You'll see more and more people, you know, someone like Shreyas Iyer, even Nitish Rana was captain . for KKR. So this is a great experience for all these guys and let's see who takes advantage of it and moves on, first as a person and then as a player,” Nehra said.
Even GT's batting coach Gary Kirsten believes Gill can develop further as captaincy would be a big step for him.
“I think leadership will play an important role for him and I know he really wants to do this job. We, as coaches, just have to help him to make sure he gets the best out of his players and that he takes the lead.” team in the right way and in the way we want him to lead,” says Kirsten.
“He is a quality player. He is a very nice person. He has enormous motivation and determination as an individual, which we saw when he played for India. But like any new leader, he is starting from scratch and will face challenges .” along the way and we, as coaches, will just have to support him along the way,” he added.
GT will play five-time champions Mumbai Indians in their opening match of the season on March 24 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
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