Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra has compared Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya’s personalities during their time at the franchise, saying the all-rounder was more talkative and ‘completely trusted’ him, while the Punjabi batter is ‘a little reserved, a little shy’.
Pandya was GT’s first captain and led them to the title in their debut season, 2022, and another final in 2023. He then moved to the Mumbai Indians in an all-cash trade. It led to Gill’s promotion, and he has since led them for three seasons, with two of them ending in playoff qualifications.
“They are very, very different,” Nehra said, as quoted by PTI. “You are talking about the North Pole and South Pole. Both of them were like me, not somebody who has done much coaching,”
Nehra said, comparing Pandya and Gill. “Both of them had not done much captaincy, but you learn on your way forward, and suddenly somebody is pretty much doing captaincy for India in two formats. He is only going to get better.”
“One thing is for sure: he (Pandya) completely trusted me, which was the perfect, perfect thing. He will always be keen to learn. He will always ask if something doesn’t go right or doesn’t go well. He is somebody you can have lots of conversations with. The other way around, Shubman is a little reserved, a little shy, but that’s okay. Everyone is different. There is no right or wrong. He (Gill) is someone who will not talk or have as many conversations as Hardik Pandya, but he is to the point. He is somebody who is very keen to learn and keen to observe,” he added.
Nehra said that Gill, now India’s ODI and T20I captain after impressing at GT, is still a ‘work in progress’.
“Of course, he is a work in progress. He is only 26-27, and it is not that he has been doing captaincy for so many years. It is only 1-2 seasons, and you learn things and you will get better,” he added.
