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.
“If you look at our record, the better we performed, at home, the better we performed away as well. So, performing away, is just as important, and just as important, as performing at home.” The last season didn’t go as per plan but Gill doesn’t believe in doing something strikingly different.
“If you look at our record over the past three years, we are a team with the highest percentage of wins. So, if we continue to do that, it’s going to be another great season for us. And, just because it’s a new season, I don’t think we have to do anything different.” The dynamics of T20 bating upfront is changing fast but Gill didn’t want to be a soothsayer when asked if GT can breach the magic figure of 300 in this coming edition of IPL.
“That’s not what our aim is. We want to play the kind of cricket where we will assess what the condition is and what the situation is. If the wicket or the situation allows us to make 240, 250 or 260 runs, then we are not saying no to that. But there might be a situation where 150 or 160 would be an ideal total on specific wickets.
“And hence, I feel as a team, if you are only looking to play one wicket, then you are not adapting the things how you should. The hallmark of a great team is that it adapts the best to the suitable conditions and the challenges that are coming up,” he concluded.
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