Recently, former Indian all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh had said that there is a shortage of role models in the Indian cricket team. While interacting with Rohit Sharma on a live session on Instagram, Yuvraj had said that youngsters have very fewer role models to look up to as compared to the time when he was himself a youngster in India’s dressing room.
“In this team, seniors are you (Rohit) and Virat (Kohli) who play all three formats. I just feel since social media has come, there are very fewer guys to look up to. That sense of respect for seniors…it has become a thin line,” Yuvraj had said in an Instagram Live chat with Rohit Sharma.
Later, echoing Yuvraj’s voice, former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir also said that there is a “dearth” of role models in the Indian cricket team.
“I agree with Yuvraj that there is a dearth of role models in the Indian team currently, like in the 2000s, we had Dravid, Kumble, Laxman, Sourav, and Sachin to guide the team. It is important to have senior players around you who can help you when you’re going through a rough patch.
However, when Harbhajan Singh was asked to share his views on the same, he, very uncharacteristically, gave a very diplomatic answer.
“See every team has a different culture. Pehle ke time kuch aur the (times were different before). Now, these are different times. What Yuvi has said, I don’t know in what context he said these things, but I played till 2016 and I never felt anything like this,” Harbhajan said.
“Now I haven’t been in the team since 2016 so I cannot comment on this current bunch. But till the time I was there, I never felt anything. Yes, the team has changed a lot since 2016. So maybe Yuvi can give you a better answer to this as he knows the context,” Harbhajan said.
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