Following Hardik Pandya’s return to Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans were quick to announce Shubman Gill as their new captain.

Pandya is one of the hardest players to replace in T20 cricket. A fast-bowling all-rounder who is also a local player, he is a five-time IPL winner for a reason. In the two years of Gujarat Titans’ existence as a franchise, they were crowned IPL champions in 2022 and were one ball away from going back-to-back in 2023. Gill, 24, has been charged as the man to take the helm in Pandya’s place.

Gill has had an outstanding year in international cricket, establishing himself as first choice across all three formats for India. He enjoyed a particularly fruitful year in ODI cricket – scoring five hundreds and averaging over 60 – and has scored international hundreds in both Test and T20I cricket this year, too. Gill was also the leading run-scorer in the 2023 IPL by 160 runs, compiling three hundreds in the process.

However, not everyone is sold on the decision to hand Gill the Gujarat captaincy at this point in this career with esteemed commentator and pundit Harsha Bhogle casting doubt on the call. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, following the unveiling of Gill as Gujarat’s new captain, Bhogle said: “I think life is moving a little too fast for Shubman Gill. He has had a great year as a batter and he needs to take that next step forward in the next few months with a Test series in South Africa and a T20 World Cup where he has competition for his place. It might have benefitted him to be understudy to Kane Williamson for a year at GT with a view to being captain at IPL 2025.”

While Gill is first choice in the India Test side, he is yet to transfer his prolific white-ball form to the five-day game. While there have undoubtedly been causes for optimism, Gill only averages 32.20 after 18 Tests after debuting during India’s famous series victory in Australia back in 2020/21.

As Bhogle mentioned, Kane Williamson was an obvious captaincy alternative within the Gujarat squad if the Titans management felt this was too soon for Gill. Williamson is one of the most experienced captains in the world game having captained New Zealand since 2016 and Sunrisers Hyderabad at various points over the past few years.