MS Dhoni sharing his experience would be particularly important for those Indian players who are playing in a World Cup for the first time, former batsman Gautam Gambhir has said. India face Pakistan in their first match of the 2021 T20 World Cup on October 24 and Dhoni, under whose captaincy India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, is part of the team as a mentor.

Dhoni retired from international cricket last year.

“To share his experience with some of the young guys who are playing their first World Cup, which is going to be very important because playing in the World Cup is a completely different piece,” Gambhir, who was an integral part of the Indian teams that won the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup with Dhoni as captain, said on Star Sports.

“So, you would need that experienced person who’s been there and done that. MS could definitely try and share all his experiences with some of the young cricketers,” said Gambhir.

Virat Kohli had said that he will be stepping down as India’s T20 captain after the tournament. Gambhir said that while players would want to win the trophy for Kohli, it will also be because it has been a long wait for India to win the T20 World Cup. India have not won the tournament since 2007, with their best finish since then being runners-up to Sri Lanka in the 2014 T20 World Cup.

“All he would be looking for is to win the T20 competition and I’m sure that the entire team will be looking to do that as well because it’s been a long 14 years of wait. I’m sure that it’s not only about Virat Kohli that he’s going to be captaining India for the last time in the T20 format, it’s about just winning the tournament and him winning as captain will be icing on the cake,” remarked Gambhir.