Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra lavished praise on Shubman Gill after Gujarat Titans claimed a 77-run win against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Saturday. Gill scored a brilliant knock of 84 runs off 44 balls and played a key role in helping GT post a par score of 229 runs on the board.
The GT skipper scored nine fours and three sixes in his majestic knock as he batted at the top of his game. The flamboyant batter added a fine opening alliance of 118 runs off 65 balls with Sai Sudharsan.
“Shubman Gill has become consistency’s second name because he has had seven consecutive seasons with 400-plus runs, and an updated and upgraded version has come this year, where he is batting aggressively, whether it’s hitting a straight six against Jofra Archer or taking down Josh Hazlewood. He is taking down the big guns,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Gill has scored 462 runs in 10 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 46.20 and a strike rate of 160.41. Chopra said Gill hasn’t allowed the captaincy pressure weigh him down.
“Seven consecutive seasons – only Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan had done that, and he is the third. It’s a very difficult job to be so consistent continuously, especially if you have been the team’s captain for a significant period of time. Captaincy sometimes weighs you down, but that hasn’t happened with him,” he observed.
The renowned analyst also praised Shubman Gill’s captaincy. Chopra highlighted that Gill has given three overs apiece to Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj in the Powerplay overs on six occasions in the ongoing season.
“The second thing that is happening very well with him is that in captaincy, he gets Siraj to bowl three overs and Rabada to bowl three overs. He has done that six times this year. Has there been any season to date in IPL history where any team has made two bowlers bowl three overs apiece in the Powerplay more times? Never ever,” he said.
Chopra noted how Gill backed Kagiso Rabada despite the Proteas pacer getting a beating from Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Rabada eventually dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shimron Hetmyer in the Powerplay overs.
“What does it tell you? One is that the bowlers are bowling well, but it’s not limited to that. Rabada was hit for 21 runs in his first over that day (against RCB), and he brought him again for the second over. Here also, Rabada got hit when Vaibhav Suryavanshi went after him, but he brought him back again. He is not thinking about what would happen in the end. He goes nuclear straight up,” Chopra observed.
Gujarat Titans will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.
