Shubman Gill faces a batting challenge in first IPL season as Titans captain

"I don't know if you've looked at the captains photo with the trophy. That's how different it is."

Shubman Gill summed up in one sentence the different vibe to IPL 2024. He was referring to the changing of the guard among captains. No Dhoni, Rohit or Kohli. Shreyas Iyer is the most experienced leader, while Gill is the newest.

The new Gujarat Titans captain has barely any formal leadership experience. He's led his state side Punjab in just two T20s in 2019-20. That's two more than his predecessor - and opponent on Sunday, Hardik Pandya - had when he captained Titans to the IPL title in their first season in 2022, and steered them to the final again in 2023. The bar has been set high for Gill.

He also takes over as Titans captain in what is going to be a crucial season for him as a batter. After a sensational performance in IPL 2023 - 890 runs - you'd imagine that Gill is a lock-in for India at the upcoming T20 World Cup. But the competition for place in the top order, and even to be a reserve in a 15-man squad, is tough.

The spectacular rise of Yashasvi Jaiswal and the return of Rohit Sharma as captain leaves little room in the top two. Virat Kohli's comeback to the shortest format means No. 3 could be spoken for too. Suryakumar Yadav, when fully fit, walks in as well.

So this is the challenge facing Gill in his first season as Titans captain, just one year after he so successfully transformed himself as a T20 batter. Between 2019 and 2022, Gill had a best strike rate of 132 in an IPL season. He upped that to 157.80 while remaining prolific - three hundreds and nearly a fourth, an unbeaten 94.

Gill took giant strides in improving his six-hitting too. Between IPL 2018 and 2022, he had hit only 47 sixes. Last season alone, he hit 33. The question now is whether Gill will continue batting this aggressively and effectively with the added responsibility of captaincy? There are some examples of young Indian batters who haven't done so.

Rishabh Pant's strike rate in his first IPL season as captain was 128.52; it was 152.26 in the previous three seasons. Sanju Samson's strike rate was 147.32 for three seasons leading into his first as captain, when it dropped to 136.72. For KL Rahul, the drop was from 146.60 to 129.45.

Hardik Pandya also slowed down as captain. He went from being a finisher for Mumbai Indians with a strike rate of 169 in three seasons before he became the Titans captain, and then scored at 131.26 in his new role as the team's anchor. It's probable that Gill isn't aware of this trend, but he's shown himself capable of overcoming challenges.

As recently as February, his place in the Test side came under scrutiny during the home series against England after a string of low scores. As the criticism of his form and weakness against the incoming delivery grew, Gill displayed resilience in constructing a fighting second-innings hundred in Visakhapatnam. It paved the way for more runs in the next three Tests.

IPL 2022 was an incredible season for Gill with the bat. He needs to find a way to match that along with the responsibility of captaincy, for the Titans to go far in the IPL, and to further his prospects of making the cut for the T20 World Cup.