Shubman has lot to learn, but he’s adjusting well: Miller backs struggling GT skipper

PTI, May 5, 2024, 9:39 AM IST

Shubman Gill is having a tough initiation into Gujarat Titans captaincy, but senior batter David Miller backed him, saying the 24-year-old is increasingly “adjusting” to the role.

Under Gill’s captaincy the Titans – who were champions in 2022 and runners-up last year under Hardik Pandya – are languishing at the ninth place on the table with no real hope of entering the playoffs.

“Shubman is an exceptional player, as we all know. He is still young and has a lot to learn. But I feel he is adjusting really well to the captaincy.

”But I feel it’s a tough one too because the margins are so small,” said Miller in his post-match press meet after GT went down to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by four wickets here on Saturday.

Miller also identified the absence of veteran pacer Mohammed Shami, who is recuperating after an ankle surgery, as a reason for their inefficiency with the ball in the Power Play.

“Shami, obviously, was really exceptional in the power play. So, we feel like we kind of miss him in the power play, as he picked up wickets and kept the economy rate down,” said Miller.

The Titans leaked 92 runs in the Power Play against RCB while defending a modest 148, and that tilted the match decisively in favour of the home side.

The Gujarat side themselves were underwhelming in the Power Play with the bat, making just 23 runs, which was also the lowest by any team this season in that particular passage.

In fact, GT’s power play run-rate of 7.54 and strike-rate of 118.43 are the lowest among the 10 teams in this IPL, and they also have scored the least number of runs in the first six overs – 469.

The South African left-hander admitted that the Titans have misfired at the top – with bat and ball.

“Their (RCB bowlers) lengths were a lot better than ours. But we just missed our length, and in the first two, two and a half, three overs where they were already on like 50-60 runs.

”It just looked like they (GT bowlers) were a little bit too far full. I think we were a little bit behind the 8-ball in the power play with our batting and bowling,” he detailed.

Unpacking the season so far for the Titans, Miller said they have not been able to win tight games, something the team excelled in the last couple of years.

“There are certain games that we potentially should have won, that we did lose and were pretty close. If we had won those two games, things would have been very different.

”We won crucial moments (last year) and this year we just haven’t been able to win those crucial moments, hence losing the close games,” he added.