Sachin Tendulkar's contributions to Indian Cricket apart from his batting

Recommending MS Dhoni as the Captain

Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni

Well, there is no explanation needed for this. The biggest contribution of the maestro to Indian Cricket, might be, even at par with his batting. All this started in 2007, when India had a disastrous World Cup outing. Rahul Dravid stepped down from captaincy in September post the England tour, just a week ahead of the inaugural T20 World Cup.

With Ganguly dropped as captain the previous year, and the team plagued by rifts during the tenure of Greg Chappel, the selectors entrusted Sachin Tendulkar the responsibility to reinstate Indian Cricket on the world map. However, Tendulkar declined in the favour of MS Dhoni, and the rest is history.

Dhoni vindicated the maestro's faith in him by leading a young bunch of players to the zenith of the shortest format of the game, 10 days after taking over the team reins. He did not stop there, as he marshalled the team to World Cup glory and Champions Trophy victory, becoming the first and only captain till date to win all 3 ICC trophies.

MS Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC Trophies

India emerged as one of the fiercest competitors under Dhoni's leadership, as the wicketkeeper-batsman transitioned the team with a blend of senior stalwarts and young blood. Subsequently taking over the Test reins from Anil Kumble, MSD led India to the top of ICC Test Rankings for the first time.

Dhoni carved a niche for India, groomed many youngsters, re-engineered the work ethics to establish India at the pedestal of world cricket, which makes this contribution of Tendulkar most noteworthy.