India’s World Cup-winning skipper MS Dhoni on Thursday (October 13) revealed that Sachin Tendulkar was his role model while he grew up dreaming of becoming a cricketer.

Dhoni made his India debut in 2004 and etched his name in the history books as one of India’s finest cricketers of all time.

While Dhoni is now idolized by many across the globe, the man himself considered Tendulkar as his idol during his early cricketing days.

“Well, as a cricket role model, it is always Sachin Tendulkar. I was exactly like you guys, I used to watch Sachin Tendulkar play and always thought, ‘I want to play like him.’ Later on, I realised, I can’t play like him but inside in my heart, I always wanted to play like him,” Dhoni said while addressing a crowd at an event in Bangalore.

Earlier this week, Dhoni inaugurated the Super Kings Academy in Hosur. The facility has been set-up at the MS Dhoni global school, which is the first franchise-owned Super Kings Academy in India.

The Hosur facility will get underway from January 2023. This will be the third Super Kings academy in the country with centres already present in Chennai and Salem.

While Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020 after representing the country in 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20Is, he remains an active cricketer and still leads Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).