New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar came out in support of BCCI stating that the parent body has "done a lot for the game in the country", despite the allegations hurled at the Indian cricket board, by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee.
Tendulkar was speaking during a session at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, on Saturday.
"My personal feeling is that when I was growing up, I got a lot of support from the BCCI. The BCCI and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) arranged a lot of camps," he said.
Tendulkar said that how his suggestion of having all 14 squad members in a team play in school cricket last year meant that 1800 more children got to play competitive cricket.
"I gave a suggestion to MCA on school cricket and they implemented. BCCI has supported and taken care of the players and given us ample opportunity to grow. But it doesn't stop at this. Not everything is perfect but things can improve," said Tendulkar as BCCI president Anurag Thakur was among the audiences.
About the dwindling crowd in Test cricket, Tendulkar blamed lack of rivalry in the longest format that has caused the interest in the sport not to forget the emergence of Twenty20.
"When we grew up we had rivalries like Sunil Gavaskar vs Imran Khan, Viv Richards vs Jeff Thomson and then (Brian) Lara vs Glenn McGrath or Steve Waugh vs Curtly Ambrose. West Indies team in '80s and '90s generated interest.
"The target then was to beat the West Indies. Australia were an incredible team," he lamented.
Asked what could be a solution, Tendulkar said: "Look we went to England in 2014 and lost the series. Now England are down in this series and since 2014, they have lost a couple of players.
"My suggestion is to have back to back matches against same the side home and away. Let us play two Tests in India and then two Tests in England. Same set of players but different venues. Obviously there will be some changes in terms of form and injuries but core will be same. That will be a fair contest."
He was all praise for the current Indian team led by Virat Kohli.
"This team reminds me of our times between 2000-2011. They have a quality pace and spin attack. We believe that it is the best team in the world. Soon rest of the world will follow us."
Tendulkar, who has been promoting Olympic Sports, also spoke about some discussions he has had with Sports Authority of India to popularise various events.
"During IPL, we can have athletics events and then during ODIs when you have packed houses. That will also encourage the athletes."
