'Discipline in the details’: Shubman Gill strengthens case for India captaincy via Gujarat Titans

New Delhi: Gujarat Titans' captain Shubman Gill during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary) *** Local Caption ***

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Not long after Gujarat Titans (GT) booked their place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 playoffs, skipper Shubman Gill posted on X, "Discipline in the details." That encapsulates Gill perfectly. Unlike the charged captains with their in-your-face attitude, Gill goes about his job without much noise.He would run up and down the length of the field to confer with the bowlers. Even when a catch wasn't plucked, he didn't have a go at the fielder; instead, he applauded the bowler for nearly inflicting a dismissal. Upon a boundary, he would gesture to the bowler that possibly the line wasn't right. At no point would you see an irate skipper or shoulders dropping from the team.That has been the hallmark of a team that has been in perfect touch this IPL season. GT became one of three teams to book their place in the next round of the competition and are primed to finish in the top two. Forming the core of such a confident display is the top-two of Sai Sudharsan and Gill, who are one and two, respectively, in the Orange Cap standings with just 16 runs separating the duo.Gill, expectedly, carries the bulk of the responsibility of winning a second IPL title. Yet, his demeanour doesn't flinch. As it started to pour in the capital on Saturday, the team's football session was interrupted. When it did subside, Gill was one of the first few out to limber up.He would enjoy himself during the warm-up, make deft touches against an advancing defender, opt for simple passes and yet remain ultra-competitive when the ball went astray. That is clearly visible in his approach to batting as well.Where Delhi Capitals (DC) rotated batters in the nets, Gill went through a host of styles in a single lengthy session. It began with throwdowns before moving to squad regulars and net bowlers. He would play defensively to balls that tested him; let the ones go that were outside his range and tonk the ones that deserved to be attacked.Many would be done after the warm-ups and nets, but not Gill. He took a quick breather, spoke to coach Ashish Nehra, and got out of his batting gear before moving to protective gear. Short-gap catches were followed by long-range catches that were plucked with little fuss.At 25, Gill is at a crucial juncture in his career. Having sealed a spot for himself in the India squad, even leading in five T20Is, he's on the cusp of being named the next Test captain . The five-match Test series in England could be his trial by fire following Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's retirements. The fact that GT are top of the IPL points table, could finish in the top two, and Gill is scoring freely only strengthens his case."I have seen him from U-16. Actually, in NCA, I have done two camps with him. So from the U-16 age group, I have seen that he used to use his brains a lot more than a lot of other guys at his age. That is one quality that is needed to be a captain," said GT assistant coach Aashish Kapoor of Gill."Where you can use your brains for yourself and for 10 other people. How are you going to win matches? And we have seen this."When Hardik (Pandya) left, we could have always gone with someone else, a senior as a captain. But we took a chance with him. (Last year) we could see that he was trying hard as a captain. And you can see the results this year."I mean, the captaincy has been the same, but he is in better form this year, which is helping himself and the team," he added.When asked to predict whether Gill could translate his T20 captaincy success into the Test format, Kapoor stated it was hard, using the example of MS Dhoni from 2011."When (MS) Dhoni was made captain for the World Cup for the first time, he was not captain anywhere. So nobody knew, 10 years, 12 years down the line, he is going to be one of the world's best captains."If you had asked somebody at that point in time, including Dhoni, what do you think of your captaincy? There would be no answer. So you have to see a person over a period of time before you can make any judgement on him. And he has not even started," clarified Kapoor.On the field of play, Gill struggled to get going against Delhi Capitals on Sunday. With 200 to get, Gill focused on rotating the strike and letting his partner Sudharsan shoulder the responsibility of holding the steering wheel.While the left-hander Sudharsan kept his foot on the accelerator and swiftly changed gears, Gill caught on to the task. He scored 21 from the first 19 balls before jumping to 36 off 26 balls and 59 off 35 balls, only to finish on 93 from 53 balls, hitting three fours and seven sixes."He was (playing) cautiously and also was not timing the ball all that well. But what was important is, he didn't throw away his wicket even though the total was 200. It is so easy when you are chasing 200, which is 10 runs an over," said Kapoor on Gill's knock against DC."And if you are not timing the ball, you could play one or two bad shots and get out and push off. I think Sai played an important role in that because he kept throwing runs at the start."And they were not getting bogged down. Even though he was not able to time the ball initially, Sai was playing beautifully and that took the pressure off him. So he got that extra time to get in. And then once he was in, he played some good shots," clarified the GT official.

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