'Matter of time before you acknowledge that leadership might bring the best in Shubman Gill'

As starts go, Gujarat Titans couldn't have hoped to have a better initiation to the IPL. Champions in the first year, runners-up in the next. But IPL 2024 has had something of a gravitational effect on them. While they are not out of qualification conversation, another trip to the playoffs will require a big push and a substantial swing in fortunes.

In a chat with Cricbuzz, GT's Director of Cricket, Vikram Solanki, discusses the season so far, the mitigating circumstances in the build-up, Shubman Gill's captaincy and more...

Excerpts:

This time in the last two years, a little past the midway point, you would have been looking at a win or two to confirm qualification. This season has been quite a challenge by relative measure, hasn't it?

Yeah I think that's a fair assessment. What you have to acknowledge was that we've had two outstanding years. Yes we've had our challenges, but like all of the other teams if you look at the table, there are a number of teams that are in the same position as we are. The second half of the season is going to be a very interesting phase of the tournament. If we can get a couple of wins under our belt, the whole look of the table changes very quickly. We're looking forward to the second half. We acknowledge absolutely we've had our challenges, we've at times probably not been at our best and I think that reflects the position that we are in.

Would it be fair to say that some part of this topsy-turvy season is a reflection on the sort of course correction you were forced into by that big pre-season trade deal?

No, I wouldn't say that's the case at all. I think it's a number of things. I don't think you can look at it as course-correction as you put it. When we came away from the auction, we were fairly happy with the players we got. I think losing Mohammed Shami has been a huge loss for us. That's very apparent. Since then we've had injury issues, and that happens from one season to the next. Some teams go through seasons without any sort of significant injuries. Some teams go through with injuries but are able to manage because of the make-up of their squad. We're just having to maneuver our way around what's in front of us, both with the players that we've had injured and actually if I am totally honest, some of the performances that we've played out. There's no hiding from the fact that at times we haven't been at our best.

You knew about Hardik Pandya's departure before the auction, but were you aware of the extent of Shami's injury? Did you know that you'll be without him this season?

No we didn't. Mohammed Shami is a huge loss for us. The timing of when we were made aware or when it was apparent that we were going to be without Mohammed Shami, that wasn't ideal. But that's the case with injuries. There's never a right time for one of your key players to suffer an injury. It just so happened that it was quite close to the season when we finally got to know that Shami wasn't going to take part in this year's IPL. We weren't aware of the extent. We were aware of the injury but we were not anticipating it to play out as it did.

Was a cover for Shami part of your auction strategy given how you had other areas to address?

To be honest, we were expecting him to play this season. So you can understand if you're expecting him to play this season, your auction strategy is going to be very different. We were expecting him to be ready for the season. Had we known, would we have done something different? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we may have done something different but we never got to that point. We tried to have cover for our injuries in the auction, which is what all the teams do but how do you cover for someone like Mohammed Shami? He had an outstanding season for us, you've seen what he's done for India. You simply cannot cover for somebody like that. You can have replacements in mind, you can plan as best as you can, but for somebody like him who has played such a big part for the last two years for us, for him to be missing in the make-up of our team is significant. But that's okay, that's what teams have to deal with. He's not the first bowler or significant player that's been injured. Other franchises have had to deal with it in the past. We have to deal with it in this instance.

Four years ago, the IPL announced the mid-season loan transfer of players (even capped) who had played less than two games for his parent franchise. Like you've mentioned, a lot of teams are dealing with injuries, but why haven't we seen teams really utilise this system? A loan deal as some would say in Football... Lot of teams have had players on the bench, who they've not played and could get game-time elsewhere. That's a win-win right, but why has that rule not materialised?

That's a question for the BCCI to be honest with you, about why it has not materialised. If I give you my thoughts on it, it would be that more often than not, when you see a loan, if it is in another sport, you have a loan deal that doesn't... it might be for example, from one league to another rather than specifically in that league itself. If you're strengthening your competitors by actually letting them have one of your assets, then I suppose that could be one thing. But that's purely my thought.

You have a new captain for this year. Do you think this leadership responsibility perhaps came too soon for Shubman Gill in the context of the year he had in 2023, when he could focus just on his batting?

I don't think that's the case. Things happen at a given time for a particular reason - that could be because of form, fitness, selection. People get selected and into positions of leadership... it's never a sort of script that you write that is ideal, that you can sort of follow from start to finish. Things happen and you have to react to that. As far as Shubman's concerned, he's given a good account of himself as far as captaincy is concerned. You have to acknowledge that he is a young captain and there are going to be things that he has to learn along the way. You always have to start somewhere, plain and simple as that. Whatever it is you start out on, there's a first. And that's the case with Shubman. It's his first year in a sort of leadership role if you like. I am sure he's taken on leadership at times when he's played with teams that he's been a part of.

But effectively having 'captain' next to his name, this is the first time. I think so far he's given a good account of himself. I don't think his performance is affected or anything like that... I thought he's batting pretty well. I thought he played particularly well in a couple of instances. He's been practicing just as much. We're looking forward to Shubman leading this team for the rest of this tournament and I am sure it's a matter of time before you acknowledge that leadership might as well bring out the best in Shubman instead of thinking if it is too early or too late. He's an exceptional character, he's a fine, fine batter. He's somebody that gives a lot of thought to the game. All of those qualities go towards somebody that you would suggest will have a successful time as captain. We look forward to that being the case.

Was it an obvious move though? If so, what did you see in him in the years before that sort of gave you that confidence?

Yes. He's a fine batter. He's somebody that thinks about the game a great deal. He has the respect of his colleagues. He's a smart cricketer. All of those are qualities, you would suggest, would be what is required from leadership in a captaincy point of view. You said everybody has viewed him as a future leader, there must be a reason for that. People must've seen something in him. All of those things that other people have seen in him, we've seen in him. We've valued it. We've seen it first-hand because we've been fortunate enough to have the proximity to him to see how he operates, to see how committed he is to his own game, to see how passionate he is about his team and the team being successful. All of those things led us to a decision as to how we should move forward.

This first cycle as a team in the IPL has been great for you, with one title and another final appearance. Other teams have gone through the process of building and re-building after each three-year cycle. In that sense, how hard is the prospect of a squad re-build for you with a core that has delivered in two of the three years?

I think everybody is in the same boat. I think that's the fair way of looking at it. Whatever decisions are made between now and next year, they're going to apply to all the teams. You just view it as whatever is dealt out in terms of 'these are the rules and regulations and what we need to do'... once we're aware of that, we can go and plan as to what we need to do.

About having a good cycle, we've had two good years, we are working very hard towards this year as well. There's a lot of cricket left to play in this season. We're at the half-way point. We've got some really important games coming up, so we're entirely focussed on this season. Whatever transpires at the end of this season, and then when we have to make decisions around what we're doing as far as retentions... we're simply not aware of the rules on that. Once we're aware of that, we'll turn our attention to that. At the moment, our focus is entirely on this season.

Finally, what are your thoughts on the Impact Substitute rule? Does it have a future?

If you were to ask me my personal opinion, I thought the game was fine when it was XI-a-side. I can see the argument that it brings another sort of dynamic - you could argue that it has given opportunity to Indian talent, of course it has because you've got one extra player playing and you get an opportunity for that to be the case. But I am slightly more traditional in my view that the game was fine with just XI. That's not to say that I don't see it perhaps developing this way. I think the example that was given was that other sports have substitutes and I see the argument, but still within me -- and this might be me being a bit of a dinosaur and thinking that -- the game was fine with just XI a side.