"When We Meet We Try To Talk About...": Hardik Pandya Reveals Topic Of Discussion With MS Dhoni. It's Not Cricket

Ahead of India's first T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi on Friday, the Hardik Pandya-led side met with former captain MS Dhoni, who resides in the Jharkhand capital. Dhoni visited the India dressing room on Thursday and interacted with the players ahead of the first T20 against New Zealand on Friday. Dhoni first interacted with T20 skipper Hardik Pandya and then was seen giving tips to young wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan. In a short video posted by the BCCI, titled, "Look who came visiting at training today in Ranchi - the great @msdhoni", the former captain was also seen interacting with opener Shubman Gill, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal as well as the support staff.

Later, Hardik, speaking at a press conference, revealed that when he meets with the great captain, he does not talk about the game.

"Mahi bhai is here which is good as we get to meet him. We can get out of the hotel also (to meet him). Otherwise, the way we have played in the last one month, it has just been hotel to hotel," he said at a press conference.

Look who came visiting at training today in Ranchi - the great @msdhoni!#TeamIndia | #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/antqqYisOh

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 26, 2023

"And when we meet we try to talk about life and keep cricket away. When we played together I learnt a lot from him. I have squeezed a lot out of him (knowledge)... there is not much left," said Hardik.

India, after making a clean sweep of the ODI series against the Kiwis, will hope to continue their good form in the shortest format with Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill set to open in the first game. This will be India's first T20 outing after they defeated Sri Lanka 2-1 earlier this month.

Gill has only played three T20Is -- the youngster made his debut against Sri Lanka -- and will open with Kishan following his superb performance in the ODI series. The 23-year-old scored a double-ton as well as a century as India took the series 3-0.

With PTI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Hardik Pandya MS Dhoni India vs New Zealand, 2023 Cricket