IPL Preview: India’s overlooked stars Gill, Iyer take center stage at PBKS hosts GT

NEW CHANDIGARH: The nets at the Yadavendra Singh International Stadium on Monday will tell you everything you need to know if you pay attention.Shubman Gill It took over an hour. Unhurried and precise, his characteristic back-foot kick was as smooth as if it had been rehearsed in a dream. Kagiso Rabada came towards him, then Mohammed Siraj, then Prasidh Krishna, and yes, the occasional lapse reminded you that he was human after all. But mostly it was Gil doing what Gil does: timing the ball in a pleasing way. When he turned to long-on, the intent was clear. Gujarat Titans captain doesn’t play this intense pulsed light Just to be consistent. He heard the noise.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!Right near those nets Shreyas Iyer Runs completely without a shell. There is no internet. Just open sky and the ball disappearing into the stands with alarming regularity. Several of them landed among the onlookers. Close shave. Shreyas barely noticed. He got back to what he came here to do: hit the ball really, really hard.Two batters. Two captains. Both have been almost stubbornly ignored by national electors. Tuesday’s IPL match between Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans is full of things to prove.Also read: PBKS vs GT – Team predictions, head to head matches, pitch reports, Mullanpur weather updatesIyer’s story is the more maddening of the two. He has now led three different teams to the IPL finals – in Delhi in 2020, in Kolkata in 2024 and in Punjab last season. Last year, he scored 604 points and shot over 175, the best among the top 10 scorers this season. Iyer last played a T20I match for India in December 2023.Kings XI Punjab need no reminder of what their skipper brings to the table. But they need to make sure he can finish the rest of the offense. “The level of Shreyas (Iyer) we saw with the bat last year was probably what he did in the IPL and I could see the desire in his eyes burning maybe more than ever,” Punjab head coach Ricky Ponting said on Monday.Gill’s case had a different texture. His running game has never been an issue. From 2023, only Virat Kohli Score more runs in IPL. It’s always a matter of success rate, intent and willingness to get over the top early. Last season, over 155 hits showed the team was trending in the right direction.With Matthew Hayden taking over as Gujarat’s batting coach, the conversation surrounding Gill’s six-wicket haul is only going to intensify.