Hardik Pandya, the current captain of the Gujarat Titans, led the team to a title in their debut year at the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year. The 29-year-old led the team from the front with the bat and the ball both. However, team officials have hinted that if Pandya ever decides to step down in the coming years, they are grooming a talented player to take over.
Who can be Gujarat’s future captain?
Gujarat Titans Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki earlier today hinted at the player who could take over the captaincy from the current Captain Hardik Pandya somewhere in the future. Solanki and the other officials of the team’s management consider that Shubman Gill could captain the franchise in the future if Pandya decides to step down.
Addressing the media in a virtual session, Solanki said, “Shubman is a leader in his own right for the simple fact that he takes on a lot of responsibility. In my mind, it is not important that you play with an asterisk next to a player’s name.”
He further added, “He adopted a leadership role last year and yes I absolutely believe that he can be captain of the future because apart from his immense talent with the bat he has a smart cricket brain too.”
Shubman Gill has made significant strides in his cricketing career since his move to the Gujarat Titans in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. His performances in the IPL have been nothing short of sensational, and he has carried that form into the international arena. In the past few months, Gill has emerged as one of India’s top batsmen across all three formats of the game.
New rules could change game dynamics
Vikram Solanki, who formerly played for England in ODIs and T20 internationals, spoke on the new rules of the IPL. As per the new rule, each captain shall have to nominate a team of 11 players and a maximum of 5 substitute fielders in writing to the IPL Match Referee after the toss. The nominated players and substitute fielders will be the only ones allowed to participate in the game. Solanki said that these rules could bring about new dynamics in the game.
“We will just have to wait and see. It is going to be an interesting change to the dynamics, it might bring some tactical decisions to be made. But essentially the way we are looking at it at the moment is that you can name your eleven or a bigger squad of 15 after the toss and that has a different bearing on it.”, Solanki said during the Zoom meeting with the reporters.
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