Former BCCI head and renowned politician Sharad Pawar has revealed that it was Sachin Tendulkar who suggested MS Dhoni’s name for captaincy back in 2007.
Rahul Dravid was the leader of the team at that stage but he didn’t want to continue with the captaincy role as it was affecting his batting.
Dravid wanted Pawar to relinquish him from the captaincy duties and thus the chief approached Sachin Tendulkar to take the role. As Tendulkar hadn’t savoured great success in the past as an Indian captain, he decided not to take up the role. Sachin then suggested that Dhoni should be handed over the captaincy as the Master Blaster was impressed by him.
Back in 2007, Dhoni was still young in his International career but had shown good leadership skills. As the senior players decided to back out from the 2007 T20 World Cup, Dhoni led a young brigade to glory, which changed Indian cricket for good.
“I remember India had gone to England in 2007. At that time, Rahul Dravid was the captain. I was there in England then, and Dravid came to meet me. He told me how he no longer wanted to lead India. He told me how the captaincy was affecting his batting. He told me that he should be relieved from the captaincy. I then asked Sachin Tendulkar to lead the side, but he refused the role.
“I told Sachin that if both of you and Dravid do not want to lead the side, how will we go about things? Then Sachin told me that we have one more player in the country who could lead the side, and his name is none other than MS Dhoni. After that, we gave the leadership to Dhoni,” Sharad Pawar told ANI.
Dhoni then went on to become one of India’s most successful captains. The wicket-keeper batsman led the team to triumph in the 2011 World Cup, where he played a match-winning knock in the final against Sri Lanka. Dhoni also led the team to victory in the 2013 Champions Trophy. Thus, the former Indian skipper is the only captain to lead a team to wins in the T20 World Cup, 50-overs World Cup, and the Champions Trophy.
Moreover, Dhoni led the team to a numero uno position in the ICC Test rankings in 2009 and they were able to stay at the summit for 18 months. Dhoni captained India in 60 Test matches out of which the team won 27 and lost 18 whereas 15 ended in draws. The former skipper led the team in 200 ODIs out of which the team won 110 and lost 74 whereas 11 matches ended in no result whereas five were tied.
Dhoni also led the team in 72 T20Is out of which the team won 41 and lost 28 while one ended in a tie and there was no result in two matches.
