Justin Langer on His Indian Experience: ‘48,000 MS Dhoni Number Seven Shirts’

Justin Langer, a former cricket player and coach from Australia, recently shared his experiences working with Indian cricket stars. For the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season, Langer served as head coach.

He expressed amazement at the love for cricket great MS Dhoni, but he was also critical of Hardik Pandya’s unkind treatment by the supporters.

Langer talked about the abundance of Dhoni shirts he saw at both home and away games between LSG and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He calculated that 48,000 spectators at Lucknow’s 50,000-seat Ekana Stadium were wearing the recognizable No. 7 Dhoni shirt. The number increased to 100% when they left for Chennai.

It is remarkable. I was the first to learn about it, and we played them [CSK] twice. They traveled to Lucknow, where Ekana Stadium can hold up to 50,000 people. To be honest, 48,000 MS Dhoni number seven shirts would have been worn. When we got to CSK, there wasn’t 98%—there was 100%, which astounded me. It’s astounding, too. He told BBC Sport, “The hero worship in India is unbelievable.”

Go with the flow instead than allowing it to bother you: Justin Langer

Langer contrasted the adoration the great cricket player receives to that of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar in the past, expressing his surprise at it.

And, as a player, I experienced that during our previous games in India, especially with Sachin Tendulkar. Then, when I was teaching Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni [of Australia], it’s remarkable what you get over there,” he continued.

The 53-year-old did, however, also draw attention to the opposite aspect of this love. He drew attention to Pandya’s dissimilar welcome upon succeeding the adored Rohit Sharma as captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI). Even though he was the vice-captain of the Indian Twenty20 cricket squad, Pandya was jeered by spectators at every match.

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And because Rohit Sharma is a national icon in India for being the captain, I also seen the other side of it. And the Mumbai Indians’ season this year… Rohit Sharma was replaced as captain by Hardik Pandya. dearly cherished Rohit Sharma. And it was quite depressing to see. You know, the Indian fans heckled him during every game. He is the Indian T20I team’s vice-captain. I thus witnessed all sides of it. Morne Morkel and Jonty Rhodes, who had previously attended the IPL, told me this. Go with the flow instead of getting annoyed about it, Langer said.

Under Langer’s direction, the Lucknow-based squad won seven of their 14 IPL 2024 games and placed seventh overall in the points standings. Regretfully, the team was unable to qualify for the postseason.