Shubman Gill’s absence proved costly for Gujarat Titans as they lost to Rajasthan Royals by six runs in an IPL 2026 match on Saturday. In the absence of Gill, Rashid Khan led the side as GT failed to chase a 211-run target.
“Gill has a muscle spasm. Hopefully, he will be back soon,” Rashid said. GT’s team management is also hopeful that their star batter and skipper would be back for the upcoming matches.
Gujarat will play their next match against Delhi Capitals on April 8 and the team’s assistant coach Parthiv Patel gave an update on Gill during the match and said that the injury “doesn’t look that serious”.
“Obviously, he had a neck sprain (during the India vs South Africa Test in November 2025), and he had a spasm a couple of days back. We are hoping he’s fit for the upcoming game. It doesn’t look that serious. Injury management is not my forte, but I can definitely tell you that he should be fine,” Parthiv Patel said.
GT’s batting coach and former Australia opener Matthew Hayden is impressed by Gill’s development as a leader, which he says comes from his clarity of thought.
“Yeah, see, Shubman is a very clear thinker of the game, and that shows he understands cricket very well, especially at the highest level and in Test cricket,” Hayden said.
“He brings a lot of confidence. If you like, he brings a bit of swagger of the modern generation, which I really enjoy-that feeling that he’s in control and shaping his own destiny.
“But any side he plays for, he very unselfishly says-and I’ve watched him across many press conferences like this-that it’s very team-oriented,” Hayden was quoted as saying on Monday.
Gujarat registered their second loss of the season in as many matches on Saturday. Gujarat were doing well in the run chase of 211 runs, but lost their way in the middle overs as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Rashid and Kagiso Rabada took the game deep but failed to take GT over the finish line and were restricted to 204 for 8.
