‘Badey Bhai They Dhoni, Then came Virat, Rohit & Now Hardik’: Chahal Describes India’s Captaincy as ‘Family Tree’

India’s T20 set-up has undergone wholesale changes ever since they bowed out of the last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. The 10-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the semi-finals was more than enough for the selectors to make some massive moves and restructure the team.

Eventually, big names like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were subsided and more youngsters were roped in. The leadership was given to Hardik Pandya who had already proved his captaincy skills in the IPL 2022, leading Gujarat Titans to title victory in their debut season.

Hardik has been leading India in the shortest format of the game for almost a year now and it’s expected that he will be the captain in next year’s T20 World Cup in 2024. The current scenario resembles what happened in 2007 when MS Dhoni took over captaincy and led the team to victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. Dhoni showed faith in his players and in return, they produced phenomenal results.

Under Hardik’s leadership, there is no dearth of freedom for young players and his teammate, Yuzvendra Chahal enjoys that as well. The former has been leading India in the ongoing T20Is against the West Indies. The visitors lost the series opener by 4 runs but aim to bounce back in the next game in Guyana and level the series.

Ahead of the second T20I against West Indies on Sunday, the wrist spinner explained how the process of leadership goes in the team.

“I see it this way – You have four brothers in your family. Badey bhai they Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni – the eldest brother), then came Virat, Rohit and now Hardik. The equation remains the same. Nothing changes. On the ground, everyone wants their team to win. He gives us freedom as a bowler. The same freedom we used to receive, Hardik is giving us now. We (bowlers) can set our own field,” Chahal said at the pre-match press conference.

The leggie further explained how Pandya plans to use his bowlers in a game and without making any big changes.

“Even Hardik is a go-to bowler; if the plan doesn’t work, he provides his own input. So, there are not any wholesome changes when it comes to leadership. The bowler (At Team India) always receives the freedom he needs from his captain,” Chahal added.