Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Titans (GT) kicked off their IPL 2026 campaign with a defeat against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Tuesday (March 31). The IPL 2022 Champions failed to defend a target of 163 against the home team. Gill’s captaincy came under the scanner during the fixture as he didn’t introduce Prasidh Krishna until the 13th over. Prasidh, who won the Purple Cap in IPL 2025, finally came on to bowl in the 13th over. The capped India pacer did the job on the very first ball he bowled and dismissed PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer for 18 off 11 balls.
Prasidh dismissed Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis in his second over to put PBKS in a spot of bother. Prasidh spent 9 nine runs in his third over and went for 14 runs in the last over of his spell.
India legend Anil Kumble questioned Gill for his captaincy and said that he was surprised by the captain’s decision to hold back Prasidh. “Very surprising that GT sort of thought of Prasidh Krishna, the purple cap holder, to come in in the 13th over,” Kumble said on Star Sports.
“First ball, of course, was a lucky breakthrough. As the previous couple of balls, Shreyas Iyer had got hit on the hand, so maybe lost some concentration. It was a half volley. He wanted to pick it up, but went straight to the square leg fielder. That length has troubled all batters right throughout the day,” he added.
While Kumble questioned Gill, Shreyas Iyer praised the GT captain for his tactics. The PBKS captain praised Gill’s move to deploy a short leg. “I was surprised, actually. I told Shubman that was something I had never experienced before. It is good to see captains attacking,” he said.
Gill, who was shockingly dropped from the 2026 T20 World Cup squad, scored 39 off 27 balls. He batted with a strike rate of 144.44 and hit 6 fours in his knock. None of the GT batters could bat with a strike rate of more than 150 and they failed to breach the 170-run mark.
Cooper Connolly shone on his IPL debut and smashed an unbeaten 72 off 44 balls. Batting with a strike rate of 163.64, Connolly hit 5 sixes and as many fours in his knock.
