Nehra and Hardik Pandya forged a highly successful captain-coach partnership after joining forces when Gujarat Titans entered the IPL in 2022. They guided the franchise to the title in its debut season and took it to the final again in 2023.
India Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill is still a “work in progress” as a leader and will get better with experience, his Gujarat Titans team head coach Ashish Nehra said on Monday. Pandya’s departure paved the way for Gill to take over as GT captain, and the youngster led the side to a runners-up finish in the last IPL season.
Both of them were like me, not somebody who has done much coaching,” Nehra said, comparing Pandya and Gill. “They are very, very different. You are talking about north pole and south pole. “Both of them were not somebody who has done much captaincy, but you learn on your way forward, and suddenly somebody is pretty much doing captaincy for India in two formats. He is only going to get better. The former India pacer was speaking on the sidelines of the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) annual awards ceremony, where he was the special guest.
Nehra said Pandya was someone who completely “trusted” him and was always keen to learn, while Gill is “more reserved but equally eager to improve”.
