Dhoni has balanced head, sharp mind: Tendulkar

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar says Mahendra Singh Dhoni is “very good” as captain and has a “sharp mind”.Dhoni is “very good…he got a balanced head on and off the field and I think he has got a sharp mind. His situational awareness is very good and that (is) the quality that I noticed quite early in him”, Tendulkar told NDTV in an interview, to be telecast Friday.

Asked about his reported suggestion of Dhoni’s name when Rahul Dravid stepped down from captaincy, he said: “I have never talked on this publicly. I conveyed to the (board) president Mr (Sharad) Pawar at that time and also to (then selectors’ panel chief) Dilip Vengsarkar. We had a meeting and whatever I had I spoke to him. I don’t believe in talking about certain things publicly.”

On his own stint as captain and if it affected his game, the little master said: “It was media who projected it wrongly and if you go back and see my record as a captain I was averaging 51.”

Commenting on his long-time teammate Sourav Ganguly’s announcement of retirement, Tendulkar said: “I was little bit surprised but you know as I said earlier, the individual knows exactly when to move away from the game and I don’t know exactly what’s going on in his mind, what he thinks of his future.”

“I allowed him to settle down a bit and I am sure it must have taken him a long time to reach that. And it’s a big decision. It is a difficult decision. If he feels that this the way to go, then we all should respect (it).”

Remarking on Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist’s allegations, he said: “I did not know how to react to that because I couldn’t have imagined this in my wildest dream because I love this sport…”

“I consider them loose statements. I think I am the kind of person who’ll leave things behind and move forward… Because he had found out that Harbhajan and I were not traceable to shake hands… I just reminded him that I was the first one to shake hands after the Sydney match.”