Shubman Gill has some experience of captaincy in domestic cricket
Now only a few days are left for the start of IPL 2024. Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers will clash in the opening match of the tournament. Talking about Gujarat Titans, they will play their first match against Mumbai Indians on 24th March.
However, this time the team will be led by Shubman Gill. Actually, after the IPL auction, Mumbai Indians traded Hardik Pandya to Gujarat Titans. In such a situation, Shubman Gill was made the captain in place of Hardik, who made Titans champion in their first season itself.
Let us tell you that Shubman Gill will captain a team for the first time in IPL. He was marked as a leader during his time with Kolkata Knight Riders. However, he has never actually taken charge as captain or even vice-captain in the IPL before.
Vice-captain at under-19 level
Gill was the vice-captain of the Indian Under-19 team in the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, which India won under the leadership of Prithvi Shaw. In the same tournament, Gill made his mark in world cricket by scoring 372 runs in five innings at an average of 124 and strike rate of 112.38.
Captaincy experience in domestic cricket
Shubman Gill has some experience of captaincy in domestic cricket. He was the captain of India Blue during the 2019/20 Duleep Trophy tournament. However, he did not achieve much success. The team stood third. Even with the bat, Gill scored only 15 runs in two matches.
A few months later, Gill led India C in the 2019/20 Deodhar Trophy and achieved success as captain and batsman. India C finished as runners-up, while Gill scored 145 runs in three matches.
He captained Punjab in two matches during the 2019–20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Punjab won both those matches. Before that, Gill had captained India A in a four-day match against South Africa A in 2019.
Gill last captained India A on the New Zealand tour in 2020. He led in three 50 over games and the team won every match. In such a situation, now it remains to be seen whether he is able to bear the burden of captaincy in IPL or not and how is his performance as captain.