Reliance on Tendulkar

RIL has appointed Tendulkar as the point man to look into the affairs of the team as far as recruitment of players, coaches and support staff is concerned. There is exactly a week to go before the player auction begins and Tendulkar8217;s presence in Australia at such a crucial occasion has left RIL smiling. 8220;He is adored in that country and he is Mumbai8217;s brand ambassador, the Mumbaikar who is considered the world8217;s best. We cannot expect anything better than to have him there, representing us,8221; says a senior RIL official.

RIL has given Tendulkar the go-ahead to involve himself in talks with players, coaches and other support staff in Australia and provide his Mumbai team with the best possible recruitment. 8220;We have been in touch with him for quite some time. Why appoint anybody else when we have him? Sachin knows how this works, cricket and even otherwise. We are waiting for him to get back to us,8221; the RIL official said.

Shah Rukh Khan had recently announced that Team Kolkata had given Sourav Ganguly the liberty to have in place a team of his choice, the players and coaches included. In a similar manner, RIL has given Tendulkar the freedom of choice. As a response to RIL8217;s suggestion, the master batsman has already vouched for a few names he8217;d like to see in his team.

Though RIL officials refused to come up with any names that Tendulkar may have suggested, they are eager8212;right now8212;to play the wait and watch game as far as recruitments from Australia are concerned. 8220;We understand that there are a few players from Australia that we would like to have on board. The likes of Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne8230;and who better than Tendulkar to help us in that aspect,8221; says Reliance.

Meanwhile, sources inform that Team India8217;s assistant coach Lalchand Rajput is being considered for the post of coach of the Reliance team while the likes of Ajit Agarkar, Rohit Sharma, Ramesh Powar and Ranji player Abhishek Nair could end up as players from the state association. 8220;This is the first year and there is little time to work on a detailed plan. At least for starters, we would like to go ahead with what an expert like him Tendulkar has in mind. He knows it all, has been there and is India8217;s best cricketer ever,8221; says the Reliance official.

Therefore, while Rajput, Agarkar and Sharma can get busy tying their laces, Tendulkar will be busy looking at overseas recruitments in Australia. The advice to Tendulkar from the RIL is to look for players who could be more effective as match-winners than individual brands. As a matter of precaution, Reliance already has in place a legal team to deal with difficulties as far as players8217; conflict of interests are concerned.