Gujarat Titans have faced a tough season in IPL 2024 as they couldn’t do well under the leadership of new captain Shubman Gill in the absence of Hardik Pandya. However, the absence of key players, losing close matches and poor fielding performance are the reasons for this team’s early exit in IPL 2024.
Apart from Hardik Pandya’s absence, they didn’t get the service of Mohammed Shami who was forced to miss the tournament due to an injury. To add to their problems, Rashid Khan, their star spinner, just returned from an injury and wasn’t at his best of form in the early stages of this edition. David Miller and Wriddhiman Saha also struggled with niggles as well.
“We’ve been a bit up and down this season. It’s important in a big season like this to be balanced as a team and as a performing unit, which we were not able to do this season,” said Gill at the pre-match press conference ahead of their final league game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. “It’s never easy. Some of our key players got injured before the season and in the season as well we have had some injuries. It’s never easy when you have had injuries in between and our team was such we had to completely change our team combination in between, because of some players getting injured. And then it’s not easy for some players coming in to be able to perform straightaway.”
“Apart from that I think it’s just a matter of one match… one match here and there. The match that we lost against Delhi by one run. A match like that could go either way, which I think in the first couple of years a lot of our matches like that went in our favour. At the end of the day, winning and losing, the margin is so close it’s hard to identify or pinpoint a moment or a particular area. But I think collectively as a fielding unit we let ourselves down in some of the key moments,” he again added.
However, under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, the Titans won their maiden edition in 2022 and reached the final in 2023 where they lost to Chennai Super Kings on the final ball of the innings. Pandya’s absence affected the team balance this season, stated Gill, but he also stressed that the Titans weren’t solely dependent on him or any other specific player as well.
“A player of Hardik bhai’s calibre, if he’s missing out of any team then it would affect the combination of any team. But the beauty of team sport is it’s never done by one player. Collectively the team has to come together and perform consistently over a period of time. Those are the teams that do well. If you look at some of the other teams in the past 16 seasons that have done well, they have played collectively. You wouldn’t see one person or two-three people changing the course of a season, or one or two or 16 seasons for that matter. A player does play a big role in that matter but the team can’t only be dependent on one player. You wouldn’t see too many teams doing well who are just dependent on a couple of players,” he said.
When he was asked about his stint as the captain whether it has been a challenging season for him, Gill replied: “I wouldn’t say challenging, but very interesting. When you come as a player you are more focussed on your growth as a batsman, as a player, as a fielder. But when you are captaining, you should also know how you can get the best out of your players. Not all 15 or 25 of our players will be with the same mindset.”
“There are players who are playing the IPL for the first time and then there are experienced players like Kane Williamson or a David Miller or a Matthew Wade, who know how to go about their things. It’s important to communicate with them, important for me to tell them what their role is and how I can get the best out of them, and that is the challenge. (But) if I’m thinking those things when I’m batting then I won’t be able to get the best out of myself as a batsman,” concluded Shubman Gill.
