Shubman Gill speaks to TOI on Titans captaincy, being tagged as 'The Prince', competition in Indian cricket and juggling formats
Shubman
Gill
is now one of the big emerging brands in Indian cricket. Having gone through half a season after taking charge of a new but successful IPL franchise, Gujarat Titans, he spoke to TOI to offer a peek into the carefree, street-smart brand of cricket he and his generation play.
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Excerpts from the conversation...
How has it been taking over the Gujarat Titans captaincy from Hardik Pandya?
It's very interesting captaining a franchisee which has been there for two years and played two finals. I have to see what more I can do than what I was doing as a player. It's the same great bunch of players.
How do you react to the tag of 'prince of Indian cricket'?
I think about how I can contribute to the team and how I can make my team win from any situation-be it for my country or Gujarat Titans. I just hate losing. People criticize you when you aren't doing well and then when they like you, they come up with these tags. It's not like I don't listen to the criticism but enjoy the tags that I get. When you are walking to the pitch, you don't think if you are the prince of Indian cricket or you haven't scored in the past 10 innings. You think about the next ball that you're going to face. And you think about the situation and how you're going to overcome it.
Do you try to remain the same Shubman that you were before the stardom?
I don't want to. I have worked very hard to get where I am. It doesn't make sense if I'm the same person that I was five years ago. I'd rather grow and maybe lose what I have right now than be stagnant here. I'd rather crash trying to thrive rather than trying to think about surviving.
Last year you played WTC final straight after IPL. Now, there's the T20 WC after the IPL. How difficult is it to work on your game in these situations?
It's challenging, especially right now. It's very challenging when you switch to
Test cricket
, because the intensity at which T20 is played right now is completely different to maybe four years or eight years back. The mindset of the players also has changed quite a bit. It's not really a challenge, based on skills. It's more of a mental challenge. But that's also the best part about it.
There's a lot of discussion around strike rates both in T20 and Test cricket…
As a batter, from any given situation, if you need to play slower then you have to get the job done for the team. But if you are chasing over 200, you need to play at a 200 strike rate, you should have the game to be able to play that way. In Test cricket, people have started playing a bit faster because they think that is the best way to get the results. Now you don't really see that many draws with the WTC coming in. You wouldn't see too many flat wickets. There's always something for bowlers wherever you go because the teams want results.
Whenever there's a World Cup, there's a lot of debate on selections. How do you deal with that during IPL? Do you speak to senior teammates?
If I'm captaining the Titans and I'm thinking about my selection in the World Cup then that would not be fair to the team. I want to be able to give my 100% to each player and to all the people that are there in the team. If I'm not thinking about my team right now then I don't think I would be doing a good job as a captain.
How much do you think about the stump mic given what all was said during the recent England series?
When you're in that moment, you're not really thinking about the stump mic. I often think it's extra pressure than anything.
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