Dhoni after Dravid, determined by Tendulkar

New Delhi: It was Sachin Tendulkar's great idea to make Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain of India'a One-Day team, BCCI president Sharad Pawar disclosed on Friday.

Pawar recalled how the Indian team plunged into a crisis in England last year with the then captain Rahul Dravid dropping first hints of his reluctance to lead the team.

"By that time, Rahul had told me he could not concentrate on his game and requested me to find someone else. Some of the selectors wanted Sachin to lead and I conveyed it to him. But Sachin said, 'please don't do this.' I asked then who should lead the side and he said 'give it to someone like Dhoni'.

"He said 'give Dhoni the opportunity. He has excellent relation with the teammates'. I told him I would not interfere but would definitely convey it to the selectors," the BCCI chief said.

Pawar also hailed Tendulkar and fellow senior players Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble for paving way for the youngsters in the Twenty20 team.

"I was in England when we were playing them. Sachin met me and suggested, 'I know you don't interfere with the team selection but you please tell the selectors not to include players of my generation in the Twenty20 squad. He said 'my generation is not fit for Twenty20, so give opportunity to the youngsters."

"Now who would come and say 'don't induct us', when that means losing a few lakh rupees? I think we are fortunate to have players like Rahul, Sourav and Anil. Their commitment is unquestionable," Pawar said.

Pawar praised Dhoni's leadership qualities after the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman led India to Twenty20 World Cup and the tri-series triumph in Australia.

"Dhoni as the captain has done extremely good. He can motivate and has a good equation with other players. He is also cool (under pressure)."

He, however, seemed more impressed by Test captain Anil Kumble, especially after the veteran spinner handled the Sydney racism row with great maturity.

"I would say Anil Kumble has been remarkable as captain. He is a good motivator and his behaviour was impeccable both on and off the field. In true sense of the term, he was an ambassador of the country and we are proud of the way he handled the entire issue," Pawar said.

During the racism row featuring Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh, Kumble's composure drew rich praise from all quarters.

Amid all the allegations and counter-allegations, Kumble's lone observation was that of the two teams fighting a no-holds-barred battle in the acrimonious Test, only one team played in the true spirit of the game.

Cricket World® Player Of The Week - Sachin Tendulkar

Cricket World® Player Of The Week - Sachin Tendulkar

Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been named as this week's Cricket World® Player Of The Week after his unbeaten century in the opening CB Series final led his side to victory.

Chasing 240, Tendulkar overcame the loss of early wickets at the other end to score a superb unbeaten 117 which included ten boundaries as he steered his side to victory with over four overs to spare.

He shared a crucial 123-run partnership with Rohit Sharma (66) but it was Tendulkar's innings, especially after being involved in a run out early on and being hit by a Brett Lee beamer before he reached his century that put his side 1-0 in the best-of-three series.

His innings was, remarkably, his first ODI century in Australia and India's first win against Australia in Sydney.

Those statistics were key in him being given the award over other notable performers including South African double centurions Grame Smith and Neil McKenzie, Under-19 stars Tim Southee, Virat Kohli and Shreevats Goswami, England Women's captain Charlotte Edwards and batswoman Claire Taylor who helped secure a 3-1 win in New Zealand and the aforementioned Sharma.

The Cricket World ® Player Of The Week is judged by the www.cricketworld.com Editorial Team, which takes into consideration matches played in the preceding week with the final decision made on Monday morning.

Users are welcome to discuss the award and put forward contenders for each week's award on our forum, to do so, click here.

© Cricket World 2008

I've all bats with which I hit tons: Sachin

New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar has more bats than any sport goods shop as he has kept all the bats with which he scored 81 Test and one-day centuries so far. The master batsman, who has scored 39 hundreds in Tests and 42 in one-day internationals, however, said he did not know how many bats he had collected so far.

"I have all the bats with which I have scored hundreds (in Tests and one-dayers). I don't know how many bats I have but I have kept all of them," he said.

Tendulkar, who scored three centuries - two in Tests and one in the tri-series finals - on the recent tour of Australia, singled out two shots against paceman Mitchell Johnson as his 'defining moments' of the tour Down Under.

"Probably, the two shots that I played over the wicketkeeper's head off Mitchell Johnson during the first final in Sydney," he said.

"Similarly, off Brett Lee in the Perth Test. Also, those straight drives off Lee in the Melbourne one-day which we won," he told Mid Day.

The 34-year-old cricketer, with a career spanning over 18 years, said his obsession with the game had only increased with time.

"Yes, it has. I am enjoying everything and it is fantastic."

Tendulkar said foundation for the Perth Test win was laid in the second Test in Sydney which was the "turning point" of the series.

"That partnership (with Rahul Dravid at Perth) was extremely important. That sent a strong message to the Australian dressing room. But it was the Sydney Test, which changed things and caused the turnaround. We just carried that momentum into the next Test at Perth and in Adelaide. It was from Sydney where things started working differently," he said.

Tendulkar's advice to team-mates for the Test at the WACA, touted to have the fastest pitch in the world, was to spend time in the middle.

"The only thing I told my team-mates was that if you spend some time at the crease in Perth, it is the toughest place for bowlers. There are always opportunities to put the ball away and that's the way I would approach it, is what I told them."

Tendulkar agreed that a "couple of more" warm-up games in Australia before the start of the Test series would have helped the Indian team.

"Ideally, one would have liked to have a bit more practice. The one warm-up game we played was washed out. That was tough but you don't make excuses," he said.