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Gujarat Titans faced an unexpected leadership change during their IPL 2026 clash against Rajasthan Royals when regular skipper Shubman Gill was ruled out due to a muscle spasm. Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan stepped up as stand-in captain, taking charge at the toss and guiding team strategy on the field.
Why Shubman Gill missed the match?
Shubman Gill’s absence stems from a muscle spasm that flared up before the game. The GT management decided against risking further injury to their star opener and captain, opting for caution in the early stages of the season.
Rashid Khan addressed the situation directly during the toss interview
“Well, we wanted to bowl first as well. Fresh wicket and I feel like there will be some help for the bowlers initially, but we are quite happy with the toss so far. Gill has got bit of a muscle spasm, hopefully he will be back soon. KK (Kumar Kushagra) is playing his first game and look forward to see him play. I think we played good cricket (in the last game),” Rashid Khan said during the toss.
"I feel in the last game as well, it was a very close game, but some of the areas we need to improve our bowling and also with the batting. And we spoke a lot about that in the meetings and we just need to bring our A-game here and give our 100%. So I feel like we did really well in the last game as well, but we take the positive things from that and we keep improving our skills in our game," added GT stand-in skipper at the toss.
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