‘Smart’ Gill can be a future leader for Gujarat Titans: Solanki

MUMBAI: Young India opener Shubman Gill has “smart cricketing brain” and can emerge as leader of Gujarat Titans in the future with his conduct and work ethics, said the Indian Premier League team’s director of cricket Vikram Solanki.

Gill has become an integral part of the India set-up recently and had a successful outing with the Gujarat franchise in its IPL title-winning campaign last year. While all-rounder Hardik Pandya is set to continue as GT captain in its second IPL season – the upcoming 16th edition – Gill is also being seen as a leader.

“Shubman is a leader in his own right, for the simple fact that he takes a lot of responsibility. In my mind, it is not important that you play with an asterisk next to a player’s name,” Solanki said during a virtual media session on Thursday.

“Shubman adapted [well to] the leadership role last year, by his conduct, by the way he went about, with his professional attitude towards the game,” added Solanki.

“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 a very mature player who has an abundant amount of talent. He has a very smart cricketing brain. We will continue to have conversations with Shubman and invite his opinion on every decision we make.”