Gujarat Titans have dropped a hint on social media that Shubman Gill could be destined to captain the side following reports that Hardik Pandya is set to leave the franchise.

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Reports emerged on Friday (November 23) that Pandya is set to return to Mumbai Indians for the 2024 season, having captained Gujarat Titans for the last two years. It’s been reported that Mumbai Indians will pay Pandya’s salary of INR 15 crore, in addition to an undisclosed fee to Gujarat Titans, of which Pandya will reportedly receive up to half.

Following the rumours, Gujarat Titans posted a video of Gill on their social media channels. In the video, Gill said: “If the team is doing well and you’re not doing well, you still can take it and move on to the next match because the IPL is one tournament where you get so many opportunities to redeem yourself as a player and as a team.”

Fans in the comments of the video immediately began speculating whether the video meant Gill was being earmarked to take over the captaincy. Gill first played for Gujarat Titans in 2022, having played for Kolkata Knight Riders from 2018 to 2021. He had a superb tournament in the 2023 edition, finishing as its leading run scorer with 890 runs from 17 matches including three centuries.

That season followed his breakthrough on the international stage in 2022, where he scored his maiden Test, ODI and T20I century within five months of each other.

If Gill is appointed captain of the franchise, at 24 years old he still would not be the youngest captain in IPL history. Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Suresh Raina and Rishabh Pant all captained their franchises before their 24th birthdays.

Gujarat Titans are 4/1 favourites to win the 2024 IPL with Betway.

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India Shubman GillGlobal T20 LeaguesSeries Editorial