‘It doesn’t make sense’: Justin Langer is surprised by MS Dhoni’s ‘unbelievable’ hero worship as Hardik Pandya is attacked

The Indian Premier League (IPL) brings together the best cricketing talent from around the world in one place every year. This is a tournament that the biggest names in the world don’t want to miss. The high salary as well as the exposure make the IPL a lucrative tournament. Along with the best players, the list of IPL coaches is also notable. Justin Langer is part of that list. He was the coach of Lucknow Super Giants. Being part of the top-flight franchise owned by Sanjiv Goenka, Langer crisscrossed the country and immersed himself in the cricketing atmosphere.

He was quite surprised by the hero worship of MS Dhoni across the country.

“It’s extraordinary. I heard about it first; then we played [CSK] twice. They came to Lucknow and our packed crowd [in Ekana Stadium] it’s about 50,000 and honestly, there would be 48,000 MS Dhoni number seven jerseys. I couldn’t believe it and then we went to CSK and there wasn’t 98%; there was 100%. And it’s unbelievable. The hero worship in India is unbelievable,” Langer said while speaking on India’s weekly cricket podcast. BBC Sport.

“And see, I felt that when we played in India before as a player, especially with Sachin Tendulkar. [Australia]Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, but when you get there, it’s unbelievable.

He went on to say that hero worship also has its flip side.

“I also saw the other side of it because Rohit Sharma is a big hero in India as captain. And what happened to Mumbai Indians this year? Hardik Pandya took over as captain from Rohit Sharma, the much-loved Rohit Sharma and it was very sad to watch. He was booed in every game, this is the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team,” Langer said.

“I learned this from Morne Morkel and Jonty Rhodes. They’ve done it before. They told me that instead of getting upset, just go with the flow. I kind of tried to explain, imagine in the EPL, in England and every single person showed up for everyone the games with a David Beckham shirt Yes, that doesn’t happen, does it?

Langer then praised MS Dhoni. “But I was also impressed by MS’s humility. When he steps on the floor, he is calm. I think it’s a bit of MS Dhoni that is happening in the world in terms of captaincy,” he said.