The players’ celebrations, alongside the passionate fans of the team, exemplifies the growing connection between the two biggest stakeholders in Indian cricket. It is in sharp contrast to the palpable gap which existed between the preceding generations of Indian cricket stars and their supporters.

During a recent exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, opening batsman Abhinav Mukund has given us an insight into how the current generation of Indian cricketers are becoming more and more approachable to the fans.

Watch our exclusive interview with Abhinav Mukund

When asked about the differences in the team environment from his first stint in 2011 to his second-coming in 2017, Mukund revealed, “In 2011, I was probably like a kid with so many senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sehwag and Dhoni. That was a different team. This team is more publicly approachable than that side. In my opinion, that generation of cricketers is done.”

The southpaw added, “The current generation is about how much they can take on the opposition and win tours abroad. We have been talking about these things for the last two-three years. Having a dynamic leader like Virat Kohli is a big change from MS Dhoni, who does not talk too much. But Kohli is someone who says everything out loud. I was used to it because he has always been like that.”

During India’s tour of West Indies in 2011, Mukund made his Test debut at Jamaica. However, the left-hander was strangely discarded after the Trent Bridge Test against England.

After being sent into the wilderness, Mukund propelled himself back into national reckoning by scoring heaps of runs across the subsequent five domestic seasons. He was recalled into the Indian team for the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in 2017.

Having been a part of India’s victorious U-19 World Cup squad of 2008 and then a part of the Test team in 2017, Mukund would be aware of the growth of some of India’s leading modern-day cricket stars.

Mukund affirmed, “Also, there were also many cricketers from (the U-19 batch in 2008) like Jadeja, Manish Pandey and Siddharth Kaul. With the advent of these players, Indian cricket is definitely on the way up. With the influx of the IPL, this generation of players is much more okay with playing on the big stage in front of big crowds.”

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