Sachin accepts captaincy

MUMBAI, JULY 29: Rumour mills which had been working overtime since the past three days on Sachin Tendulkar's unwillingness to don the ma...

MUMBAI, JULY 29: Rumour mills which had been working overtime since the past three days on Sachin Tendulkar’s unwillingness to don the mantle of captaincy of the Indian cricket team has been brought to a big halt for the moment. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Raj Singh Dungarpur put all the speculations to rest on Thursday, saying: “Sachin spoke to me around 1300 hours today and said he was accepting the captaincy. That puts an end to all speculations, I suppose.”

Interestingly, it was the first time since he was named captain by the selectors on Wednesday at Nagpur that the BCCI was able to communicate to the master batsman, who has also expressed a desire to brief the media on Friday here. The Board officials were unable to talk to Tendulkar throughout yesterday as he had reportedly gone out of Mumbai and could convey the news after the selection committee meeting only to the answering machine connected to his residential telephone.

Dungarpur denied reports of having metTendulkar before the selectors meeting in Nagpur. “No. I did not meet him. But, yes, I have been speaking to him (before the meeting),” Dungarpur said.

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Tendulkar’s tenure till Nairobi tourney: Tendulkar will lead the side till the next annual general meeting of the cricket board, national selection committee chairman Ajit Wadekar said here today, adds PTI.

“We would have appointed Tendulkar as captain for a further period too but could not do so because it is the job of the new selection committee which would be constituted at the board’s AGM (in September end),” Wadekar said.

Wadekar said he did not have any doubts over Tendulkar accepting the job of leading the country. “Knowing Sachin as I do there was no doubt about it,” he added.

Wadekar’s statement makes it clear that Tendulkar has been appointed as captain for India’s next three international engagements — the August 22-31 tri-series in Sri Lanka, the September 2-7 tri-nation tournament in Singapore and the September 24-October 1quadrangular tournament in Nairobi.

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Tendulkar will be at the helm in case the Indo-Pak bilateral series at Toronto, originally scheduled for September 12-19, is revived.

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