Sachin Tendulkar’s first India captain played major part in making him ‘world’s best batsman’: Sivaramakrishnan

Kris Srikkanth may have led India in just four Tests and 13 ODIs, but he had what it takes to have been given a longer captaincy stint, believes former Indian spinner Laxman SivaramaKrishnan.

Overwhelmed by what he observed of Srikkanth as captain, Sivaramakrishnan gave the credit to former Indian opener for his role in shaping Sachin Tendulkar initially.

During the time when Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut in November 1989 followed by his ODI debut a month later, Srikkanth was India’s skipper and Sivaramakrishnan is of the view that the Indian captain inculcated a sense of belief and confidence that allowed 16-year-old Sachin to flourish.

“Cheeka (Srikkanth) was an aggressive captain. He provided a lot of results. He was very proactive,” Sivaramakrishnan said on the Cricket Connected Show.

“A player like Tendulkar made his debut under Cheeka’s captaincy. Cheeka’s encouragement to Sachin Tendulkar at that young age gave him confidence and he went on to become the world’s best batsmen. We’ve had a lot of inspirational captains, but I always feel Cheeka could have captained more.”

No one knows the need for understanding skipper for a young player better than Sivaramakrishnan. When Sivaramakrishanan came into the team during the 1985 World Series in Australia, he was just 19 but was supported by Sunil Gavaskar, who was the captain at that time and had asked for is selection. And the spinner never upset the skipper, he scalped 10 wickets in 5 matches.

Although Sivaramakrishnan played just nine Tests and 16 limited over cricket for India, his early success was because of Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian cricketer said.

“Gavaskar’s captaincy and his man management. I was only 19-years-old and I needed guidance and Gavaskar gave me that guidance perfectly,” he said.

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