Ahead of the IPL auction happening on December 19 in Dubai, Gujarat Titans’ Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki expressed excitement amongst the team think-tank aiming to fill the eight vacant important slots for completing their side ahead of the 2024 season of the tournament.

Gujarat, the IPL 2022 winners, have to fill eight slots, two of which are overseas, with a purse of INR 38.15 crores. They will be aiming to fill in the hole left by Hardik Pandya’s trade to the Mumbai Indians – of a batting all-rounder who can chip in with some bowling overs. They also require an overseas fast-bowler and an Indian wicket-keeping option.

“Really excited about the auction. I am sure all teams will be as excited as we are. We have got some big decisions to make as far as who we are likely to go for. But it is a small auction and I don’t like the term ‘small auction’ as there are some important decisions to be made.”

“We have eight slots to fill and they are going to be important slots for us, so we are really excited about it. We will go about it exactly in the same fashion as we went about in the first two auctions. We had continued discussions up until now and will continue to have them right until the auction,” said Solanki in a video posted by the franchise on its social media accounts.

From 2024 season onwards, Gujarat will be led by Shubman Gill and Solanki stated the team management will be giving him the required backing for nurturing his leadership skills. “Really excited about Shubman Gill taking over as captain, he is an excellent cricketer. His performance in any phase speaks volumes about him as a cricketer. It is really interesting time for him because it’s about him stepping up in the leadership role.”

“He had a leadership role previously by the simple fact that he has a personality of a considerate cricketer. He wouldn’t be as successful as he is today if he wouldn’t, but now it’s about developing his leadership skills to captain the side.”

“So he has the captain’s asterisk now next to his name which will bring additional responsibilities. But I am sure he is excited as we are. We are there to support him and really looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. It’s a new chapter for us and we are excited about it.”

In both IPL 2022 and 2023 seasons, Gujarat had also topped the points table in the league stage. While they went all the way to the trophy in IPL 2022, they had to contend with a runners-up finish in IPL 2023.

“We are happy with what we have achieved till date, but I will say that was in the past. We have drawn a line on what we need to do forward. That’s not taking away from what we have achieved so far and how proud we are of all players so far. We are looking forward to welcoming some new members to the GT family. Totally excited about it,” concluded Solanki.