Tendulkar not averse to leading India again

The world's best batsman Sachin Tendulkar has no problems in leading the Indian side, should such a situation arise. However, at the moment, he is perfectly happy to play under Sourav Ganguly. In an interview to a vernacular daily in Calcutta, Tendulkar has said, "At the moment, I have no problems playing under Sourav. When I gave up the captaincy, the situation demanded so. However, I have never said that I will not lead India again. I am pretty open to the idea of leading India if the situation comes to such a stage."

During the course of the candid interview, the former India captain has also made it clear he is satisfied at getting 50 first class centuries (26 in one-dayers and 24 in Tests). However, he does not want to end here. He has stated, "I will play on with the idea of getting more and more runs. That is what my job is. Even though I am satisfied at the way things have turned out so far, I want to maintain the high standards that I have set." He has also said that all the 24 centuries that he has scored in the Tests are quite valuable to him. "However, amongst them the most memorable are the ones which I got at Old Trafford in 1990, at Perth in 1992 and at Chennai against Australia in 1998."

Tendular rates Martin Crowe, Steve Waugh, Inzamum-ul Huq, Brian Lara, Sir Vivian Richards and David Gower as some of his favourite batsmen. During the interview, he says, "I used to like Martin Crowe very much. Steve Waugh will definitely feature in the list of favourites. Both Brian Lara and Inzamum are very good batsmen. Earlier, I used to like Vivian Richards and David Gower quite a lot." Regarding bowlers, Tendulkar has said, "Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh are two great fast bowlers. I also liked Craig McDermott tremendously during the 1992 tour of Australia. Then there are other great bowlers like Glen McGrath, Wasim Akram and Allan Donald. Amongst the spinners, Shane Warne is the best in the world." He has also clarified that even though Warne has not been able to achieve success against him, the Aussie is the best spinner that he has faced.