The Gujarat Titans lost the match by 11 runs.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag did not hold back from commenting on Shubman Gill’s captaincy for the Gujarat Titans (GT) against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 5th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025). Sehwag opined that Gill was not ‘proactive’ on the field. He also criticised the decision to discontinue Mohammed Siraj in the powerplay, even after bowling well, to give him the death overs. Gill’s trick to bring Arshad Khan didn’t work either.
“I thought that Shubman Gill’s captaincy was not up to the mark, he was not ready, he was not proactive. When Siraj was bowling well, he brought on Arshad Khan, who I think conceded 21 runs in the powerplay, and that over changed the momentum. If Siraj is bowling well with the new ball, there is no point holding him back for the death overs, and you see he also got hit in the end. A captain should have the proactive-ness to know that if one of his bowlers is doing well, he should have an extended spell”, he said to Cricbuzz.
Following his release from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after a seven-year stint, Siraj made his debut for GT in the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The 31-year-old conceded 14 runs in his first two overs. However, skipper Gill did not continue his spell with Proteas pacer Kagiso Rabada and handed the ball to Arshad Khan. Later, Siraj also got hit brutally in the death by the PBKS batter Shashank Singh. He leaked 23 runs, including five boundaries and a wide in the final over.
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The Gujarat Titans skipper started his second IPL season as a captain with a narrow-loss against the Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab. During the post-match presentation ceremony, Gill identified the reasons behind the 11-run loss in their season opener. He acknowledged that the fielding, death bowling and not being able to capitalise against the Punjab Kings seamer Vyshak Vijaykumar ‘cost the game’ for them.
“We got our chances when we were bowling and batting. Conceded too many runs at the back end, we let ourselves down with the fielding. Too many misfields and dropped catches. Matter of chases in such games. Those three overs in the middle we scored around 18 runs. We didn’t score as many in the first three overs. That cost us the game”, he explained.
The Gujarat Titans will next take on the Mumbai Indians led by Hardik Pandya at the same stadium on March 29.
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