Looking at Shubman Gill as someone who will take Gujarat Titans forward: Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra, head coach of the Gujarat Titans (GT), offered his thoughts on a number of topics, including Hardik Pandya’s leadership change to Shubman Gill. “Under their new captain, the team is embarking on a new phase,” he said. With two victories from their first three games in the IPL 2025, GT is off to a great start. They have won back-to-back games since losing to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the first place.

Nehra said that the finest instructor is firsthand experience and that he had faith in Shubman Gill’s leadership. He underlined that his primary focus is on Gill’s development as a captain and a person, not only on outcomes. The former cricket player thinks Gill’s potential is boundless as long as he stays grounded and keeps learning.

After speaking with Shubman Gill for a year, I’ve come to the conclusion that people learn best from their own experiences.

Accordingly, things will only grow better this year,” Nehra stated on JioHotstar’s special program “Aave De.”

“Once more, it’s not just about outcomes for me. Shubman Gill is someone I think will lead this squad forward, both personally and as a captain. The possibilities are endless for a player like Shubman, who has been with the same team for three or four years, if he maintains his composure, keeps learning from the game, and keeps improving—all of which are traits that come naturally to him. I think this,” he continued.

The concept that high IPL scores like 250 or 260 will become the standard was rejected by the former CSK player. Although he underlined that pitch conditions are important, he noted that the impact player rule permits aggressive play. The former bowler said that teams are still at a disadvantage when they lose six wickets early, and the average score from the previous season was disappointingly low at less than 200.

“No, I don’t believe that. Even if you might occasionally see scores of 225, 230, 250, or even 260, Nehra stated that this is still far from becoming the norm. “In 2023, the impact player regulation was still in effect. I am aware that teams can play more aggressively when they have an additional batsman, but the pitch conditions must also encourage that.

“Having an impact player doesn’t always make up for a side losing six wickets, which can often put them in a vulnerable position. Even your eighth batter won’t be able to achieve much if you lose six wickets by the eleventh or twelfth over. In the IPL, we have witnessed high scores of 240, 250, or 260, and some matches have been very close. On the Impact Player’s rule, however, the GT coach stated, “If you look at the average score from last season, the numbers are pretty surprising—I don’t think it was even 200.”

Using the Champions Trophy final as an example, the left-arm pacer recalled how the Indian team pursued 250 runs in the last over because of pitch conditions, even though they were at 90 runs in the 15th over. The 45-year-old highlighted that although dew or flat wickets can help teams score, they are sometimes knocked out for 125, so 300 is a difficult goal.

For instance, consider the Champions Trophy final. The pitch was different, so even though we had about 90 runs in the 15th over, we managed to chase down 250 in the last over. It is difficult to routinely score 250 when there is dew or flat wickets. People often forget that teams get bowled out for 125 while discussing 250 or even 300. You can get a variety of results from cricket. Regarding reaching 200+ in the IPL, he continued, “I still don’t think scoring 300 is that easy.”