Among all the Indian captains that he has played against, Sourav Ganguly is the "favourite" of West Indian batting legend and former skipper Brian Lara as he feels his leadership against arch-rivals Australia was "astonishing".

"Sourav is my favourite. His leadership against Australia in Australia was astonishing. I have great respect for him," Lara said at a Dell event on leadership here last night.

He also praised Kapil Dev and "good friend" Sachin Tendulkar for their leadership qualities.

"In 1983 West Indies were dominating and I thought it would be cake walk for them in the final. So I went out to play only to come and know that India won, which was a surprise and Kapil Dev as a leader had a lot of role to play," he said.

"Then there is my friend Sachin Tendulkar, what he has done for cricket, it can't be repeated. His contribution to Indian cricket and world cricket is immeasurable," he added.

On Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy, Lara said, "I spoke to Dwayne Bravo about Dhoni, how he was as a leader while they played together for CSK. He told me one of his key strengths is that he is a great listener. Bravo told me how he sets goals but always looks for ideas and commitment from his players."

Lara took a stroll down memory lane as he recalled his his initial days and how he used a coconut branch as his first bat.

"My first bat was shaped out of a coconut branch by my brother. And from that day, all I wanted to do was to be a West Indian cricketer. I would play cricket by myself in the yard and the team would be (Gordon) Greenidge, (Desmond) Haynes, (Vivian) Richards, Lara. From a very early age, I saw myself as a West Indies cricketer and nothing else," Lara said.