IPL 2020 | Shubman Gill is a ‘definite’ future Indian captain, asserts Joy Bhattacharjya

09/27/2020

Renowned expert Joy Bhattacharjya believes Shubman Gill is a definite future Indian captain and has batted for the youngster to be fast-tracked to leadership roles by the Indian management. Simon Doull, meanwhile, believes that Gill will be leading the KKR franchise in 2 years’ time.

Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 70, on Saturday, was a knock like no other, for the youngster showed maturity well beyond his age. Despite seeing his top-order partners perish one after the other, Gill stood firm, weathered the storm and took an extremely measured and calculated approach to slice the SRH bowling into pieces. In fact, so good was Gill’s knock that CricViz noted it to be the ‘highest score in IPL history to contain no misses or edges’.

Naturally, the youngster has received praise for his knock, but according to renowned expert Joy Bhattacharjya, there is more to Gill than just batsmanship. The senior broadcastera, in a Cricbuzz chat show, stated that he sees Gill as a future Indian captain and identified the 21-year-old as a candidate that the national selectors should fast-track to leadership roles.

“Absolutely. I think he has got the maturity, he has got the ability and he is young enough and has plenty of time (to lead the side). India don’t normally do that (put the armband on youngsters), but if you look at other countries - South Africa (Graeme Smith), England (Mike Atherton), New Zealand (Kane Williamson) - they fast-tracked potential leaders early. I think if you’re looking at fast-tracking anyone from the next generation of cricketers, Shubman Gill is the first name that jumps up. There is no doubt in my mind at all,” Bhattacharjya said on Cricbuzz live.

Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull, who is a part of the commentary team, meanwhile, reckoned that Gill could be leading KKR as early as IPL 2023. Doull noted that with the likes of Morgan, Karthik and McCullum in the KKR camp, Gill has some great brains to pick, and revealed that the 21-year-old came off as an extremely disciplined young man who has respect for the game.

“I don’t imagine it’ll happen next year, but don’t be surprised if it happens two years down the line. He has got some very good people to lean on,” Doull said on the possibility of Gill leading KKR.

“I really like the kid. I think he is a future superstar of Indian cricket, a future opening batsman possibly in two formats, if not in all three formats. When you see these special players, you just want them to do well. To me, when I’ve talked to Shubman Gill, he’s come off as a lovely young man who has enormous respect for the game.”

Gill’s 70* on Saturday was his fifth fifty-plus score in the IPL and 3 of them have come in his last 5 games, all as an opener.