Former cricketer Irfan Pathan reflected back on 2007, a year which would remain special for him. For, that was the year where India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. Remembering that time, he said that no one expected anything from the side, but the situation is a bit different with Virat Kohli led India.
T20 World Cup Full Coverage | Schedule | Photos | Points Table
“I think nobody expected anything from the 2007 team, but there are a lot of expectations from the current World Cup squad. The new team has expectations and experience. When we entered the 2007 T20 World Cup, we hardly had the experience of playing in T20 format. But now, things are different, people play IPL, they play a lot of T20 games and there are a lot of conversations around T20 format,” he said on Star Sports’ special show on India’s famous win named ‘Class of 2007.’
He added that social media had virtually no presence back then. What ever happens to this side, it will surely trend on social media, he pointed out. “In 2007, there was no social media, but now there is social media, so there are lot of conversations around performances and memes. I think the boys know that there are lot of expectations from them and they know how to handle it.”
Pathan played a crucial role as a mentor to Jammu and Kashmir after his playing days were over. Thanks to his role with state side, a number of young guys made it to the international level. This included the likes of Umran Malik and Abdul Samad. While Samad played a key role in SRH for the last one year or so, Malik clocked 150 plus speeds in the recently concluded IPL, impressing India skipper Virat Kohli.
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here