M S Dhoni can be the man to take India forward: Rahul Dravid

"...if he truly believes that, 'Yes, I can be around when India makes these foreign trips, if I can be around in South Africa, New Zealand, England, playing at my best,' then I think it makes sense for him to back himself and fight it out.

"If he, at any stage, doubts himself and believes that he can't then he's got to start thinking about his career, and what's the future of Indian cricket as well. So it's really going to be up to him," Dravid added.

The former middle-order mainstay said whatever the decision taken by Tendulkar, it should be respected by everyone.

"Look, it's a pretty emotional time, he should take the emotion out of it, sit back, there's time before the next Australia series, sit back calmly and reflect. And irrespective of whatever decision he takes, in the end we have to respect it," he said.

Analysing India's meek surrender in the series, Dravid said the team is in transition but should have shown more intensity.

"Any time you lose a Test series at home, because India haven't lost a lot at home, you could consider it a low point. You've got to accept a little bit that this team is in transition as well, you have to give a bit of leeway for that. I think India will be disappointed, they would have expected to beat England at home," he said.

"At the start of the series, and especially after Ahmedabad, you got the feeling that India felt they could have won the series. It hasn't panned out that way. From that point of view, I guess you can only go up from here.

"India have lost a couple of series away from home, against England and Australia badly. There was always a feeling that, you know, India might not necessarily have been playing well abroad but India will always do well in India, and all of us I guess believed that as well. That has shown to be slightly not so true, and it's time to introspect," he added.

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