Sachin Tendulkar said MS Dhoni would make a good captain: Sharad Pawar

November 10, 2013

Sachin_Tendulkar_capMumbai, Nov 10: Mumbai Cricket Association chief Sharad Pawar has revealed that it was Sachin Tendulkar who batted for Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain of the Indian team after Rahul Dravid expressed his desire to give up captaincy in 2007.

"Sachin loves to lend a helping hand to fellow players, especially the juniors, and believes in team spirit. Humility is his middle name. He gave up captaincy to concentrate on his game," Pawar wrote on his blog on Sunday.

"Now, a cute story which will delight the countless fans of Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni as well. It so happened that a few years ago the Indian cricket team was playing in England. As BCCI chief I too was in London," he said.

"One day Rahul Dravid came to me with a request that took me by surprise. Dravid said he wanted to give up captaincy as it affected his game. I flatly said no. The Twenty20 series was to begin soon and the World Cup match was barely a year away," the union agriculture minister recalled.

Pawar said Dravid had suggested Tendulkar as the possible replacement but the senior batsman was not keen.

"How could Dravid think of giving up captaincy at such a critical juncture? Who would be his successor? Dravid persisted. He suggested Sachin's name as the next captain. I talked to Sachin on the issue. He didn't seem eager to step into Dravid's shoes. Instead, he suggested Dhoni's name. This came as a twist in the tale.

"'Dhoni is an excellent wicket-keeper. But, will he make a good captain?' I asked Sachin. 'You try him out. He will make a great captain. I say this with a sense of responsibility', Sachin replied," said Pawar in his recollection.

"Accordingly, the BCCI's selection committee chose Dhoni as the team captain. And he did India proud. We won the Twenty20 World Cup and, later, the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai as well. Handsome praise

was heaped on the new captain which he rightly deserved. This happened because of Sachin's far-sightedness."

"Sachin is all set to retire. However, he can't keep himself away from cricket for too long. I am sure grooming young players will be a part of his post-retirement plans. Best wishes to the Master Blaster," Pawar said.

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News Network
April 7,2020

Bengaluru, April 7: India batsman Robin Uthappa has said that he reckons he still has a World Cup left in him, despite being out of the team for than four years.

Uthappa had last played a match for the Men in Blue in 2015 on the tour of Zimbabwe.

"Right now I want to be competitive. I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete and do well. I honestly believe I have a World Cup left in me, so I'm pursuing that, especially the shortest format. 

The blessings of lady luck or god or whatever you call it, plays a massive factor," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Uthappa as saying.

"Especially in India, it becomes so much more evident. I don't think it is as evident when you're playing cricket outside of India. But in the subcontinent and India especially, with the amount of talent that we do have in our country, all of those aspects become evident," he added.

The 34-year-old Uthappa has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India and he was also a part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2007.

Uthappa has scored 934 runs in ODIs at an average of 25.94, while in T20Is his numbers are 249 runs at an average of 24.90.

"You can never write yourself off. You would be unfair to yourself if you write yourself off.

Especially if you believe you have the ability and you know that there is an outside chance. So I still believe in that outside chance," Uthappa said.

"I still believe that things can go my way and I probably can be a part of a World Cup-winning team and play an integral role in that as well.

Those dreams are still alive and I think I'll keep playing cricket till that is alive," he added.

Uthappa had enjoyed great success with IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. He went on to become their leading run-scorer in the 2014 edition.

However, he was released by the side after a below-par 2019 season, and last November he was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for the 2020 edition.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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