Gujarat Titans started their IPL journey in 2022 under the leadership of Hardik Pandya. Two years and one trophy down the line, they have moved on with Pandya going back to his previous franchise, Mumbai Indians.

Pandya’s departure meant Gujarat needed to announce a new captain. They had the option of the senior-pro Kane Williamson, but Gujarat went ahead with a bold move looking ahead at the future, appointing the 24-year-old Shubman Gill as the captain.

I am proud to assume the Captaincy of Gujarat Titans and I cannot thank the franchise enough for their trust in me to lead such a fine team. Let’s make it memorable!

To all the fans… #AavaDe! 💪 pic.twitter.com/LNELWqwURD

— Shubman Gill (@ShubmanGill) November 27, 2023

Has Shubman Gill captained in the IPL before?

This will be Gill’s first assignment as captain in the IPL. He was earmarked as a leader during his time with the Kolkata Knight Riders, with then KKR coach Brendon McCullum saying that Gill would be part of the KKR leadership group in some capacity ahead of IPL 2020.

However, he has never actually held a captain or even a vice-captain position before in the IPL.

Vice-captaincy at the Under-19 level

Gill was the vice-captain of the Indian Under-19 team at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, which they won under the leadership of Prithvi Shaw. That was the tournament where Gill announced himself to world cricket, scoring 372 in five innings at an average of 124 and a strike rate of 112.38.

That was where he also displayed his leadership credentials, paving the way for McCullum to include him in the leadership group of KKR in the IPL a couple of years later.

Captaincy experience in domestic cricket

Gill has some captaincy experience in domestic cricket. During the 2019/20 Duleep Trophy, a first-class tournament, he was named captain of India Blue. He didn’t have much success with either results or with bat as India Blue finished third among three teams and Gill managed just 15 runs from two outings.

A few months later, Gill then led India C in the 2019/20 Deodhar Trophy, a List A tournament. All of 20 years old then, Gill became the youngest captain in the tournament’s history at that point. He had a better outing with both bat and the team in this tournament as India C finished as runners up and Gill finished with 145 runs from three games.

He also led India A in a four-day game against South Africa A in 2019, before going on to captain Punjab in two matches during the 2019-20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Punjab won both those games.

Gill’s last stint as a captain came in India A’s tour of New Zealand in early 2020, when he led them in three 50-over games, each of which India A won.