India all-rounder Hardik Pandya considers the ongoing T20 World Cup as the biggest responsibility of his career as a finisher, because “everything is on my shoulders” in the absence of “life coach and brother” Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the playing XI.

This would be India’s first World Cup campaign since Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020. He has since been appointed the team’s mentor for the showpiece event.

In an interview to ESPNcricinfo, Pandya said: “The biggest so far, I will say, because this time I don’t have Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Everything is on my shoulders — I like to think that way because it gives me an added challenge,” the 28-year-old said.

“MS was someone who understood me from the start,” he said, recalling how Dhoni reached out to him on his return to the side during the New Zealand tour in 2019 following a suspension for some perceived sexist remarks on a TV show.

“...initially there were no hotel rooms (for Pandya). But then I get a call, saying, “You just come. MS has told us, ‘I don’t sleep on the bed. He will sleep on my bed and I will sleep on the floor.’

“When all this (the TV remarks controversy) happened, he knew that I needed support... I never saw him as MS Dhoni the greatest. For me, Mahi is my brother,” Pandya said. “....in a lot of ways he is a life coach. Staying with him, obviously, you learn to be mature, you learn to become humble.”