2024-06-01 20:20:07
NEW DELHI: The unceremonious exit of Rohit Sharma as skipper of Mumbai Indians and Hardik Pandya taking over caused a great furore in the recently concluded IPL season.
What followed it was boos all around the country for Hardik as fans showed their displeasure and disapproval over the all-rounder leading the franchise.
It was a 10th place finish for Mumbai Indians in the 17th edition of the league as everything came down crashing for the five-time champions.
To go with that, reports of senior MI players showing their disapproval of Hardik’s captaincy style added more spice to the entire saga.
But with Rohit back as captain as India skipper and Hardik his deputy at the T20 World Cup, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that whatever happened in the Mumbai Indians dressing room should not come up and be discussed in the national dressing room.
“The conversation of the IPL shouldn’t be happening. Not even once. Forget what has happened. Don’t even talk about it. Just focus on what Rahul Dravid wants from a particular player, like Hardik Pandya or anyone else and just make sure they are very focussed on that,” Pathan told ESPNCricinfo.
Australian batting great Matthew Hayden also echoed Pathan’s sentiments, pointing that the issue should not be addressed at all during the World Cup.
“A men’s dressing room is very simple. Without one word, you know who the leader is. Nothing has to be spoken. You’ll look at each other. You’ll understand what has to happen and then you move forward accordingly. It’s music to my ears, what Irfan just said there, about how you’re going to address it. You are not going to address it. Don’t even talk about it,” Hayden said.
Pathan also stressed on the fact that in Indian cricket, we have celebrity culture and sometimes it doesn’t help the team.
Comparing the Indian cricketing culture with Australia’s, Pathan said that in our country, fans and stakeholders have different emotions and mindset towards the game but an ideal balance between the two would suit Indian cricket well.
“Australia doesn’t have a celebrity culture. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have that. Ideally I would want a nice balance between Australian culture and Indian culture, where we come in between. Sometimes having that kind of a culture doesn’t help us. But at the same time, we are what we are. We are not Australians. We are Indians. Our emotions, ethics and mindsets are different,” Pathan said.
India play their first T20 World Cup game against Ireland on June 5 in New York.