Earlier this week, 24-year-old Shubman Gill was announced as the new captain of his IPL franchise, Gujarat Titans. The youngster replaced Hardik Pandya as the new skipper with the all-rounder trading back to the Mumbai Indians.
Both announcements of Pandya leaving and Gill being made the new skipper came quickly. This shows that the Titans’ management and owners have full faith in young Shubman Gill, even though they had other experienced options in Kane Williamson and Rashid Khan.
Former South African captain AB de Villiers, though, feels Gill is still young and he could have been given time to learn if he had been made the vice-captain with Williamson as their new captain.
AB de Villiers reckons while Shubman Gill may have the ability as a leader, he should have been given at least one season under Kane Williamson.
“I don’t doubt Shubman Gill’s skill or ability as a leader but they should’ve given the opportunity to Kane Williamson when he is in the team. Gill should’ve been an understudy and learn for atleast a year,” AB de Villiers said.
Life is moving a little too fast for Shubman Gill: Harsha Bhogle
Commentator Harsha Bhogle had similar views to ABD, saying that Williamson was the ideal candidate for GT’s captaincy. Bhogle feels Gill would have been better off focusing on his batting in the coming months and learn the captaincy under Williamson in the IPL.
Gill’s career has taken a huge momentum this year. He cemented his place in India’s ODI and Test team, and is the number 1 ranked ODI batsman. His rise to GT’s captaincy is a huge opportunity for Gill to lay claim to future India captaincy.
“I think life is moving a little too fast for Shubman Gill. He has had a great year as a batter and he needs to take that next step forward in the next few months with a test series in South Africa and a T20 World Cup where he has competition for his place. It might have benefitted him to be understudy to Kane Williamson for a year at GT with a view to being captain at IPL 2025,” Bhogle tweeted.
