Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has said MS Dhoni almost finished the hype surrounding the rivalry between the two teams by winning regularly and credited current Men in Green skipper Babar Azam for renewing the rivalry.
India and Pakistan will resume their rivalry in the upcoming T20 World Cup which gets underway in Australia on October 16. The arch-rivals will face off on October 23.
Successful captain
Under Dhoni, India won major ICC trophies, including the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy titles. The Men in Blue defeated Pakistan in all meetings in World Cup matches under MSD's captaincy.
"Agar aap India ke team ko uthake dekhe, pichle kuch arse main, Dhoni ke daur me agar aap dekhe toh unhone aapni approach ko change kardiya. Unhone Pakistan team ko...woh joh Pakistan-India hota tha woh khatam kardiya tha. Kyunki woh continuous jeetein jaa rahein the (Under Dhoni, India had changed their approach. He had finished the hype surrounding the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Because under him, the Indian team would always win.)," Afridi said during a discussion on Pakistan's Samaa TV.
Approach important
"Unhone soch badli apne, unhone Australia, England, South Africa...uss level pe unke jo top batsmen the unhone unke saath muqabla karna shuru kardiya tha. Unhone Pakistan ko, sorry to say, side main rakh diya tha. Par aab woh cheez wapas aa rahein hain and of course wapas ayegi. Approach bohot important he to decide aap apne aap ko kis level me rakhna chahatein hain (They changed their approach and started seeing Australia, South Africa, and England as their main competitors. They had kept Pakistan on the side. But now things have changed. Pakistan are coming back and are one of the toughest challenges for India)," he added.
