Shubman Gill’s batting has just been phenomenal: Vikram Solanki

Gujarat Titans director of cricket Vikram Solanki has been blown away by the form and consistency his captain Shubman Gill has shown in the Indian Premier League. Gill has totalled 722 runs this season, scoring the bulk of the runs for his team alongside opening partner Sai Sudharsan (710). Both are operating at a healthy strike rate of 160.

Gill gave a batting masterclass in his team’s chase of 215 on Friday, steering the Titans to their third final in five seasons.

Gill, the Test and ODI captain for India, was dropped from the T20 side ahead of the World Cup earlier this year. Considering his appetite for runs in the shortest format, Gill seems determined for a national comeback.

“It is on the back of a lot of hard work. I can only imagine all of the work that Shubman has put in throughout his career to get to where he is as far as batting is concerned. He’s an exceptional young man, and sometimes you have to realise he is still a young man. To be playing the cricket that he is, to be batting the way he is, is just phenomenal,” said Solanki.

“... and Sai is no less so. He might be a little younger in his journey, but you can see that he takes a fine example from Shubman and understands that actually his skills are what you and I might view as batsmanship — the sort of traditional form of batting — but there is no doubt in my mind that if a situation, a circumstance requires them to up their run rate, and that wicket actually suits them playing that way, then they can adapt.”

Did Gill come into this IPL with a different mindset following his exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad? “He was preparing exactly as he has done before. He’s a wonderful talent. T20 cricket is a format that you have to ride in different times as much as work hard when you’re not playing well. He has played so much cricket. He’s so experienced for somebody so young. He knows how to deal with all of those matters.”

“Success, (or) failure, professional sports is about dealing with exactly that. He was very measured when he arrived in our camp. His preparation has been on point as it always is. Regardless of what jersey he’s wearing, his preparation is on point and that’s exactly how he arrived this year,” said Solanki.

When asked for a response on rival teams and experts branding the Titans as a predictable unit, Solanki did not have much to say.

“They are learned gentlemen of the game. We play a form of cricket that we trust and I don’t really have anything else to say about it.”

On their meticulous planning for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Solanki chose to praise the teenager.

“I’ll just say what an exceptional innings he played (against Sunrisers Hyderabad). He continues to be a young man to be. It’s defying any sort of logic to how he’s taken on such experienced international bowlers and played as well as he did today (against GT). I wish him well.”