India started their T20 World Cup campaign under Rohit Sharma’s leadership. On June 1, the Men in Blue defeated Bangladesh by 60 runs in a warm-up match. However, the “ghost of IPL 2024″ seems to be chasing Indian fans, as there are still talks about the alleged ego clash between Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya.
It all started when Mumbai Indians (MI) replaced Rohit with Hardik as their captain in IPL 2024. Rohit’s fans were furious while many MI supporters could not digest that Rohit, the most successful skipper Mumbai had ever had, would no longer lead the side.
Pandya was booed multiple times at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. There were strong speculations that tension was growing between Sharma and Pandya in the Mumbai dressing room.
Within a week of the IPL 2024 final, the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign has started for India. This time, Rohit and Pandya are carrying out different roles. Sharma is leading the India cricket team in the World Cup while Pandya has to act as his deputy. As fans wonder how Rahul Dravid should handle the “situation”, here comes Irfan Pathan’s advice for the India Head Coach.
Irfan was asked on ESPNcricinfo to imagine himself as Rahul Dravid and say what “conversation” he would have told Rohit and Hardik: ‘Whatever has happened happened’.
“Actually, I’ll not even discuss ‘whatever has happened happened’.I’ll just say, ‘This is my expectation from you. I want you to win the games for Team India. This is the roadmap, and this is how I want my team to play. And, you’re the important part of the team’,” Irfan answered.
“Don’t even talk about it,” Irfan added while advising Team India to focus on the World Cup.
Matthew Hayden’s advice
Australian cricket legend Matthew Hayden was with Irfan during the discussion. He completely agreed with Pathan.
“Without one word, you know who the leader is. Nothing has to be spoken. You look at each other; you’ll understand what has to happen and you move forward accordingly. That’s music to my ears what Irfan just said about how it is that you are not going to address it. Don’t even talk about it,” Hayden said.
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Published: 02 Jun 2024, 11:23 AM IST