By IANS
Kolkata : Refusing to comment on captaincy, Sachin Tendulkar Tuesday said he has always been there to guide the juniors or give suggestions irrespective of a consigned responsibility.
When quizzed on how he saw Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the Twenty20 captain,Tendulkar said: “It’s for the selectors to decide.”
His comments came before the Indian cricket board named Dhoni as captain of the one-day international side for the series against Australia and Pakistan.
The Test captain for the home series against Pakistan will be named later, said Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the selection committee, in Mumbai. Tendulkar is seen as a contender.
On his own prospects as captain, he said: “I don’t have much to say about the issue of captaincy. I am not allowed to do so.”
He was in the city to promote Sunfeast Open as a brand ambassador of Sunfeast, a brand of ITC Foods and main sponsor of the WTA event.
Later, asked how he carried the responsibility of being a senior cricketer in the absence of a coach during the recent England tour, the batting maestro said: “To tell the truth, with or without the coach, I have always expressed if I had to say something. It could come in the form of a suggestion or a tactical point that I wanted to share. I have always guided the youngest member of the team and England was no exception.
“More importantly the junior cricketers know they can walk up to me anytime with any thing they wanted to ask. I am always open to it. I don’t need any responsibility delegated to me separately for that.”
On India’s prospects in the Twenty20 World Cup, Tendulkar said, “India has done well in the tournament. The last result was something that I could not like, like all other Indians. But they have my good wishes. The tournament is still wide open and hopefully India will come up on top.”
While his career has often seen breaks due to injuries, he said: “Injury management is a very important part of sports today. There are going to be injuries. It’s about how quickly you recover and how good is the rehab package.
“These times of injury are very depressing. So one needs a lot of determination and more importantly support of the family. So that at the end of it all you come out a better player, a better cricketer.”
Queried on how he handles pressure in a country like India where being a hero and villain is just a match away, Tendulkar said, “It’s not easy at all. But you have to block it all away – both praises and criticism – and play as well as you can and keep the tricolour flying.”
The cricketer will be involved in a match of fun tennis with Mahesh Bhupathi and Maria Kirilenko.
Tendulkar also put his hand’s imprint on a tile, which would be placed in the Avenue of Stars at the Millennium Park in Kolkata on the banks of the Hooghly river.
Designed on the lines of Hollywood’s Hall of Fame, the Avenue of Stars features handprints of celebrities from various fields visiting the city for the Sunfeast Open.