(Cricket News) “I am delighted and proud to assume the captaincy of Gujarat Titans and thank the franchise for their trust in me to lead such a fine team,” Shubman Gill said in a statement. “We have had two exceptional seasons and I keenly look forward to leading the team with our exciting brand of cricket.” A day after the Titans traded Hardik Pandya to the Mumbai Indians, Gill was named captain of the Gujarat Titans for the 2024 season.
As a new franchise in the IPL, the Titans were allowed to sign up to three players ahead of the 2022 auction, and they brought Gill on board for INR 7 crore, along with Hardik and Rashid Khan for INR 15 crore each. Gill, 24, had begun his IPL career with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 and was released ahead of the auction in 2022.
Gill was their highest run scorer in IPL 2023 with 890 runs in 17 innings, which included three centuries, in a campaign where Titans finished runners-up to Chennai Super Kings in the final. He scored 483 runs in 16 matches in IPL 2022, topping the score with an unbeaten 45 in the final against Rajasthan Royals as Titans won the title in their first season.
“Shubman Gill has shown growth in stature and standing over the last two years at the highest level of the game. We have seen him mature not only as a batter but as a leader in cricket,” stated Vikram Solanki, director of cricket for the Titans.
“His maturity and skill is evident in his on-field performance and we are extremely excited to embark on a new journey with a young leader like Shubman at the helm.” The Gujarat Titans’ success in 2022 and 2023 was largely due to Gill’s on-field contributions.
