Former BCCI chief and known Indian politician Sharad Pawar has unfolded the story behind handing MS Dhoni the captaincy in 2007. Pawar revealed that it was India’s legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar who suggested MS Dhoni’s name for the captaincy. Pawar was appointed as BCCI’s president in 2005. He served as the head of BCCI for three years between 2005 to 2008.
What Really Happened In 2007?
Pawar recalled the incident when Rahul Dravid came to him, during a tour of England in 2007, and expressed that he “no longer wanted to lead India”. Pawar, then, turned to Sachin Tendulkar to offer him the captaincy. However, the Master Blaster of Indian cricket also denied the offer. “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,” said Pawar while addressing a public meeting, as per news agency ANI.
“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,” he added.
MS Dhoni changed the structure of Indian cricket after accepting the captaincy role in 2007. In the same year, India were humiliated in the knock out stage of the 50-over World Cup under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. Later that year, MS Dhoni guided India to their first T20 World Cup glory. MS Dhoni also carried India to their 50-over World Cup win in 2011. Indian won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 in England and with that MS Dhoni became the only captain to have won all three ICC trophies, a feat which is still not achieved by any other captain.
