Keeping Captaincy And Batting Apart Is Better: Gujarat Titans Captain Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill believes that a successful captain needs to keep his batting separate from leadership as mixing the two is never in the best interest of the team. Gill took over the mantle of Gujarat Titans from Hardik Pandya last season and his start was an inauspicious one with the team finishing a lowly eighth after playing back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023. "The more you keep the captaincy and batting separate, the better it is. In my experience, if I am going to bat, the best thing for me is, that I concentrate on batting. The decision I take as a batter, that is the best decision for me," Gill said at the pre-season media conference here on Wednesday. "When we are fielding, at that time, or off the field, I get more involved in captaincy. The more I bat, as a batsman, the better it is for me," said Gill, who had scored a massive 890 runs during the 2023 season.

However in his first season as skipper, the tally had come down by more than half to 426 runs and even the strike-rate dropped by 10 percent from 157.70 to 147.40.

The first season as skipper might not have gone as per plans but there were things that he learnt along the way.

"I think, the most interesting, and challenging thing, as a captain, is that, every day, you learn something new, about a player, or about yourself. If I want to be a good captain, these are the things I need to work on." Gill thanked Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki and head coach Ashish Nehra for helping him in strategic matters as he himself is evolving as a young leader.

"The experience that I get here, from Ashu bhai (Nehra) and Vikram, is immensely treasurable for me." Gill believes that whenever GT have played well at home, they have tended to perform well in away games too.

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