Shubman Gill already 'Captain Fantastic' for Gujarat Titans

NEW DELHI: Shubman Gill’s cheerful demeanour can be infectious. Before a drizzle interrupted training at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Saturday evening, Gill gathered his

Gujarat Titans

teammates and indulged in a fun warm-up session of football on the eve of their match against

Delhi Capitals

. His shrill voice and teenage levels of enthusiasm aside, it was apparent this was an emerging leader who exercised authority over the younger batch of players. Gill, at just 25, is at a defining stage of his career. The buzz in Indian cricket suggests he is seen as a long-term captaincy option and the promotion may happen as soon as next month, in the five-Test series in England. That he has come to Delhi with a team that has one foot in the

IPL playoffs

is a good point of reference to assess his leadership qualities.

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“He’s been fantastic with the way he’s been around with the group. I don’t need to mention how well he is batting right now and the way he is handling the situation. He has been scoring a lot of runs and managing the team really well,” Titans assistant coach Parthiv Patel said on Saturday.

“He’s been very proactive on the field and off it. In fact, he plays an important role off the field. He spends a lot of time with the young players. I’ve said this before too. You can see actually Shubman Gill the captain in the dressing room. That’s what you want in a leader,” Patel said before adding. “Going forward, I can’t comment on whatever the talks (in the India camp) are, but Shubman Gill as Gujarat Titans captain has been fantastic.”

Besides the captaincy talk, Gill the batter has been impeccable in white-ball cricket over the last three months. The rich vein of form notwithstanding, Gill barely misses a training session. On Saturday evening, he went through a long and rigorous nets session even as Delhi Capitals kept switching batters in the adjacent nets. There were no funky shots. He presented the full face of the bat to every ball and concentrated on timing, looking to hit mostly down the ground. He seemed in absolute control.

Foreign players happy with GT ‘communication’ Patel also said the GT management didn’t have any problems getting all their overseas players back, since the there was clear communication with the players. “I can tell you that the players were very happy with the way we dealt with the situation. We have been very transparent and they were happy with the way we communicated the situation with them. That’s why all of them are back,” Patel said.

Break gives Capitals a breather While Titans will look to seal their playoff spot on Sunday, Capitals will look to resurrect their campaign after it hit free fall before the tournament was halted last week. Capitals allrounder

Vipraj Nigam

said the team was looking at a fresh start. “We started the tournament well. When we reassembled, we decided we will treat this game as we did back when we started the tournament,” Vipraj said.