Shubman Gill missed GT's first home game in IPL 2026. Credits - AP
The Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Titans (GT) have just looked like a mere shadow of their prestigious past in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). Unlike them, they have lost both their matches.
GT opened their campaign with a harsh defeat to the Punjab Kings at New Chandigarh, before losing a cliffhanger to the Rajasthan Royals at home.
As Gill wasn't in the presence, Rashid Khan took over the reins in the previous game at Ahmedabad for GT's first home game of the season. The 26-year-old batter was ruled out of the fixture vs RR due to a muscle spasm in the neck, as coined by Rashid at the toss.
Shubman Gill to play against DC
Ahead of the DC vs GT, a new development regarding Shubman Gill has come to light. As reported by the Times of India, the Gujarat captain will play against DC in all likelihood after recovering from his muscle spasm.
The degree of Shubman Gill’s injury wasn’t shared either by the stand-in captain or anyone from GT’s management. However, it was understood to be a minor spasm, and he benched himself as a precaution.
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Meanwhile, the Indian Test captain faced a similar injury during the Test series against South Africa at home. Gill pulled a spasm in his neck while batting in the first innings of the Kolkata Test, which prevented him from coming out to bat in the entire match. Subsequently, he also missed the second Test in Guwahati.
How RR's youngsters scripted famous win vs GT?
In the absence of Shubman Gill, Kumar Kushagra opened the innings along with Sai Sudharsan. Although the seasoned opener slammed a beautiful 44-ball 73, the Kushagra experiment didn’t fare well for the Titans in the chase of 211 runs.
Despite getting a good start to the innings, GT failed to capitalise in the middle overs as the middle order collapsed yet again. Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada’s tall eighth-wicket partnership almost pulled off a heist, but Tushar Deshpande’s iconic final over sealed the deal for RR.
Earlier in the day, Yashasvi Jaiswal (55), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (31 in 18) and Dhruv Jurel (75) flexed their young muscles against Gujarat - one of the most experienced bowling attacks in this IPL. Thanks to the dynamic trio, the Royals slammed 210/6 while batting first.
Eventually, GT lost the game by a slim margin of six runs, losing their second game on a trot in IPL 2026.
Why is IPL 2026 important for Shubman Gill?
India’s Test and ODI captain, Shubman Gill, missed the chance of representing India in the T20 World Cup narrowly. Just prior to the mega-event, the stylish right-handed batter was opening the innings and the vice-captain of the side. However, a dip in form saw Gill losing his spot to Ishan Kishan, who later performed exceptionally in India’s victorious campaign.
Despite Gill scoring a truckload of runs in IPL in recent years, his style of play has come under scrutiny. What goes against Gill is his contemporaries, i.e. Abhishek Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson score runs consistently- just like Gill- but at breathtaking strike rates.
However, if Shubman Gill tends to work on his strike rate in the IPL 2026, he might get back into the T20I fold, given that Samson is already in his 30s.
Nevertheless, the Gujarat Titans’ next IPL 2026 match vs DC is on Wednesday in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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