Gujarat Titans (GT) assistant coach Ashish Kapoor has described captain Shubman Gill as a "thinking cricketer", a quality he saw in him during Under-16 days at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, now known as Centre of Excellence.
"If you see Shubman as a batsman, or basically as a cricketer, whether he's a good thinker or not, I think he's a good thinker of his own game," Kapoor said at the post-match press conference on Sunday night.
"I've seen him since the Under-16 days. In fact, I've done two camps with him at the NCA. Even back then, he used his brain a lot more than many others his age. And that's a key quality for a captain — to not just think for yourself but for the ten other players as well, and plan how to win matches."
On May 18, Gill remained unbeaten for 93 in the record-breaking run chase against Delhi Capitals (DC) where he shared an unbeaten 205-run opening partnership with Sai Sudharsan (108 not out). After a 10-wicket win, GT climbed to the top of points table. They have qualified for the playoffs with nine wins from 12 games.
GT coach says it's early to judge Gill's captaincy
Meanwhile, Gill is the frontrunner to take over as Test captain after Rohit Sharma's retirement. He is being considered for the leadership role ahead of England tour as there are injury concerns over Jasprit Bumrah who led in Rohit's absence on Australia tour. Kapoor recalled when a young MS Dhoni was named India's T20I captain, nobody knew about his leadership skills but he went on to become one of the best.
"I'm not an astrologer. We're watching him lead in T20 cricket, but when Dhoni was named captain for the World Cup (in 2007), he hadn't captained anywhere. Nobody knew back then that he'd go on to become one of the world's best captains," said the former India spinner when asked about Gill's Test captaincy chances.
"If you had asked someone at that time — even Dhoni himself — what they thought of his captaincy, there would've been no answer. You have to observe a player over a period of time before making any judgment. Shubman hasn't even started yet, so it's very difficult to say."
GT have two more games left at the league stage. They will look to finish in top two and get entry into Qualifier 1.