3 Ideas of Sachin Tendulkar that changed Indian cricket

Sachin Tendulkar, for his all exploits in the game, is revered highly in the cricketing world. He was the God of batsmanship who owned the records; he was more than a handy bowler who delivered most of the times when the team calls in him; he was a safe pair of hands in the fielding.

But when it came to captaincy, he could manage nothing but desperation. He had two stints as an Indian captain, but both times, the team could not take off under him.

Though Sachin was not able to earn graceful records as a captain, it did not mean that he had a lack of grasp towards other aspects of the game, excluding batsmanship. Actually, he had a great comprehension about the ongoings and future of the game, as obvious by his decisions and advises he brought for the Indian cricket.

In this article, let's talk about three such ideas of Sachin Tendulkar that benefitted Indian cricket.

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#1 Suggesting Sourav Ganguly as the Indian captain

Sourav Ganguly brought about the aggressive nature in Indian cricket.

Sourav Ganguly's endeavours as the Indian captain, do not need any introduction. 'The Prince of Kolkata' took the team from the depth of hopelessness to the heights of enthusiasm.

During Tendulkar's second stint as the Indian captain, India toured Australia in 1999-00. For this series, Sachin had asked the selectors to appoint Sourav Ganguly as the vice-captain of the team. Sachin saw a potential in Sourav Ganguly that the latter could lead the side in his absence due to the various reasons.

As the result of a downbeat performance in Australia where India could win only one match out of the three Tests and eight ODI matches (Tri-series including Australia and Pakistan) they played, Sachin Tendulkar decided to step down from the captaincy and asked the selection committee to pass on the baton to Sourav Ganguly. Thus, Sourav Ganguly became the captain of India and the rest is history.

#2 Deciding to play Rahul Dravid at number 3 and Sourav Ganguly at number 5

Rahul Dravid scored over 10,000 runs, batting at number 3.

Batting at number 3, Rahul Dravid served Indian cricket for so many years. He occupied the role so intensively that he was called "The Wall" for his splendid business, batting at the certain position.

When Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made their Test debut in England in the year 1996, they were made to play at the third and fifth positions respectively.

At the start of his second Test series (against South Africa at home) as captain, Sachin Tendulkar thought that Dravid's calmness at the start of his innings and Sourav's free-flowing batting style are more suitable for the team if they interchanged their batting positions.

Despite the fact that till then, Sourav and Dravid had an average of 100.50 and 56.75 at third and fifth position respectively, Tendulkar executed his idea in the first two Tests against South Africa.

Though the duo got back to their initial positions for the final Test and the first two Tests of the following three-match Test series in South Africa, they were up for the plan from the third Test, and that went on blossoming to serve Indian cricket for one and a half decade.

#3 Suggesting MS Dhoni as the Indian captain

MS Dhoni shocked the world cricket, leading the team to the title of the inaugural WT20.

MS Dhoni is arguably the best Indian captain ever. He achieved what any other could not. The only captain in the cricket history to have all three ICC trophies in his cabinet, Dhoni touched the exaltations of success.

When the seniors like Tendulkar, Dravid, and Ganguly opted out of the WT20 2007, BCCI had to select an inexperienced side for the tournament and were skeptical about the leader of the young Turks.

Once, Sharad Pawar, the former BCCI chief, had revealed that it was Sachin Tendulkar who suggested the name of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain for the ICC WT20 2007, and he was quite sure about that.

Later, when Anil Kumble took retirement from international cricket, BCCI looked towards Sachin for his third stint as Indian Test captain, but Sachin put forward the name of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was already leading ODI and T20 teams.