Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is regarded as one of the most successful skippers in the history of this game, took team India to new heights under his captaincy. Former BCCI chief and noted politician Sharad Pawar, recently, made a big revelation that it was none other than Sachin Tendulkar who suggested MS Dhoni’s name for India’s captaincy in 2007.
Sharad Pawar, who was the BCCI president from 2005-2008, recently revealed that Rahul Dravid had approached him during the 2007 England tour and had expressed his unwillingness to captain team India further. Following this discussion, Sharad Pawar approached Sachin Tendulkar, who also turned down the offer of the captaincy. Pawar revealed:
“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.”
He added:
“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,”
The year 2007 turned out to be an eventful year for the Indian cricket team as they won the inaugural edition of the 2007 World Cup T20. The side also crashed out in the first round of the ODI World Cup and then went on to win a Test series in England. With his captaincy, MS Dhoni took the Indian cricket team to the number 1 position, having won all the ICC trophies and major tournaments.
