Dharmasala: Mohd. Azaruddhin, the Indian skipper, says that Sachin Tendulkar deserves the honor of being conferred with the Bharat Ratna, but he desires that Dhyan Chand, the hockey legend should be the first person from the sports sector to be conferred with the nation’s highest civilian award.

The former Indian captain said that Sachin deserves to be conferred with highest civilian honors, but before that Dhyan Chand must be the first sports person to have the award.

Azhar said that the hockey legend played, when India was under the British rule, and said, it should be taken into account that Dhyan Chand played under tough conditions, with no proper grounds and no proper hockey sticks.

The former skipper pointed out that one has to look into Dhyan Chand's achievement during the British raj period, and hence he should be the first person to be bestowed with the Bharat ratna.

It should be noted that Sachin Tendulkat, aged 38 has the unique batting records in ODI, and test cricket, as well as scoring the maximum centuries and runs in both the formats.

Tendulkar scored his 100th century against Bangladesh in the Asia cup held in March.

When Azhar was asked about Tendulkar’s retirement, he said that Sachin has been playing for the past 22 to 23 years, and that freedom should be given , it should be his own decision, if Sachin desires to play, then one has to respect his wish.