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Cricket Players'Do I think he will be a leader? Absolutely': GT's Director of Cricket on Hardik Pandya's successor ahead of IPL 2023
Hardik Pandya led Gujarat Titans to victory in their maiden Indian Premier League season last year, and the franchise's director of cricket has now dropped a big hint on who could succeed the star all-rounder in the leadership role.
The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League begins on March 31 with defending champions Gujarat Titans taking on the Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. Following the end of the ODI series against Australia on Wednesday, the Indian players will join their respective franchises for preparations ahead of the new season; while a host of Chennai Super Kings players including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni have already been preparing since earlier this month at Chepauk, Titans' star trio of Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Shami will join the franchise soon, having completed their international commitments this week.
Pandya had led the Titans to victory in their maiden season last year, as the side defeated Rajasthan Royals in the final of the tournament. One of the stars for Titans in the season was Shubman Gill, who produced exceptional outings for the title-winners; he scored 483 runs in 16 matches for the side, that included four half-centuries. And according to Titans' Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki, Shubman has the potential to succeed Pandya as the franchise's new captain in the future.
"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," Solanki told reporters during a virtual media session on Thursday.
"Shubman adapted the leadership role last year, by his conduct, by the way he goes about, with his professional attitude towards the game."
The right-handed batter finished just four runs behind Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya in the list of highest run-getters for the franchise.
"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," Solanki said.
Following the last season, Shubman cemented his place in India squads across all formats of the game. Earlier this year, Gill became a regular opener for the side in T20Is as well, as he partnered Ishan Kishan in the role. The youngster opens with captain Rohit Sharma in ODIs and Tests, and scored a brilliant century in the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia earlier this month.
