Vikram Solanki, the Director of Cricket for Gujarat Titans, has showered praises on Shubman Gill, saying the young opener has a smart cricket brain and he can be the leader of the 2022 champions in the future. Former English cricketer said Gill was part of the leadership group for the team in its inaugural edition last year.

Gujarat Titans’ decision to appoint Hardik Pandya as the captain in their inaugural season raised quite a few eyebrows as the star all-rounder admitted he hadn’t led at the senior level before the IPL responsibility came his way. However, the decision turned out to be a masterstroke as Hardik, with able support from head coach Ashish Nehra, helped GT win the title in their first season after topping the table.

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Shubman Gill was roped in as one of the marquee players for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. He amassed as many as 483 runs, with the help of 4 fifty-plus scores, at a strike rate of over 135, which was a vast improvement from the previous two seasons. Gill’s rise in the last few months has been phenomenal.

Describing the same, Vikram Solanki said, “Do I think that Shubman will be a leader in the future? Yes absolutely, but no decision has been made about that as yet. He has leadership qualities and is very mature who has an abundant amount of talent. He has a very smart cricketing brain and we will continue to have conversations with Shubman and invite his opinion on every decision we make.”

Solanki added that Gill is already being seen as a leader on the side because of his recent performances. Shubman Gill will play a more central role as Gujarat Titans will look to defend their title in IPL 2023. The defending champions open their campaign against Chennai Super Kings, 4-time champions, In Ahmedabad on March 31.

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Elaborating the said, Vikram Solanki said, “Shubman is a leader in his own right for the simple fact that he takes on a lot of responsibility. In my mind, it is not important that you play with an asterisk next to a player’s name. Shubman adapted the leadership role last year, by his conduct, by the way he goes about, with his professional attitude towards the game.”