The Gujarat Titans, in all fairness, have performed as a collective unit to win their last three games and stay on top of the table.

If Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford have done their job as the batting group, quicks Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have played a leading role with the ball. But all said and done, how well skipper Shubman Gill has led the
side so far also deserves a special mention.

His first season as Titans captain didn’t go too well, as they couldn’t make the playoffs last year. But so far in the ongoing season, most of Gill’s decisions have worked for the Titans.

A proper analysis suggests that for Gill, this IPL is not just about leading the side. It’s also about competing with others, such as Shreyas Iyer, who too has done a fine job so far as the Punjab Kings captain, Lucknow Super Giants’ Rishabh Pant and even Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya.

Touted as a future India captain, at least in the limited-overs formats, Gill also has the task of outperforming Shreyas, Pant, Hardik and the like.

With the bat, his numbers aren’t bad, considering he has looked quite steady at the top alongside Sudharsan. He aggregates 215 runs, with two half-centuries, an average of 35.83 and a strike rate of 149.30. At present, though, it’s the 25-year-old’s captaincy that’s being most talked about.

“Shubman has been fabulous. He is still a young captain as far as captaincy is concerned. He is still young in that journey. There are lots to learn, but up until now, he has been quite brilliant,” the Titans’ director of cricket Vikram Solanki said on Sunday, the eve of their clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden.

What has impressed the Titans’ coaching group about Gill is his connect with the team’s bowling group. “The connections that Shubman has formed with his bowling group are quite good, and we saw that even last year, actually.

“From one game to the next, he is developing his captaincy style, which is very good to see. He has quite an experienced bowling attack to lean on as well. But he continues to go from strength to strength in terms of captaincy,” Solanki emphasised.