For Harbhajan Singh, 2024 T20 World Cup win nowhere close to 2007 T20 World Cup!!

Harbhajan Singh has sparked a major debate about the evolution of T20 cricket and the contrasting strengths of two iconic Indian cricket teams that won the ICC T20 World Cup title in 2007 and 2024.

The former Indian spinner's bold comparison between the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team that clinched the 2024 T20 World Cup and MS Dhoni’s trailblazing 2007 title-winning team stunned fans.

He stressed that the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team was full of match-winners, like the skipper Rohit himself, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav, but Dhoni’s young army broke new ground in T20 cricket.

Harbhajan Singh compares India's 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad to 2007 champions

According to Harbhajan, Rohit had several match-winning players who could turn the game on its head, but the inaugural T20 World Cup 2007 champions didn’t have that luxury, and even Dhoni’s team lacked experience in the format, as it was just introduced in 2005 at the highest level.

Reflecting on the early days of T20 cricket, which began by England in 2003, Harbhajan recalled India’s journey, saying the format was fresh for them and the players were navigating unfamiliar territory with little strategic framework.

But the young team found success with their fearless approach and raw talent in the 2007 T20 World Cup. In contrast, the former World Cup winner highlighted how the 2024 team was armed with experience and tactical depth that enabled them to outperform any opposition.

He added that Rohit’s team not only embraced the T20 format with greater finesse but had the ability to handle high-pressure situations with composure and confidence to highlight how the game evolved.

The 2024 T20 World Cup winning squad had more match winners than our team: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh said on Taruwar Kohli’s podcast “Find a Way with Taruwar Kohli”: “Overall, if you see the 2024 T20 World Cup winning squad had more match winners than our team (2007 T20 World Cup), Back then, it was a very new format for us. We were playing for the first time. We didn’t have much clue about T20 cricket. We went with the flow and kept on winning.”

Harbhajan Singh, “In 2007, we didn’t have any big names. Barring Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh), Viru (Virender Sehwag), myself, and Ajit (Agarkar), most of them were new kids on the block. Dhoni (MS) was captaining for the first time. Now you see the names in 2024: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya... all of them are big match-winners.”

Harbhajan Singh signed off by saying, “Then you have Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Axar Patel. I feel people don’t talk more about Axar. You see his performance in the final. It was immense. Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah were throughout excellent. All of them are matchwinners. They played excellent cricket in the tournament.”