Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] has taken to international cricket like a duckling to water. His aggressive batting and golden locks have already made him a huge star in India. Even the legendary Kapil Dev [Images] is overawed by the youngster's batting.

"Dhoni is my hero," the former India captain declared in Mumbai, at the launch of the Golf Masters 2006, one of the biggest corporate golf tournaments in the city.

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Playing only his fifth Test, the 24-year-old scored a blazing century, his maiden in Test cricket, against Shoaib Akhtar [Images] & Co. and, in the process, helped India avoid the follow-on in the second Test against Pakistan on Monday.

"We talk a lot about Sachin Tendulkar [Images], Virender Sehwag [Images], but this boy has as much as talent as anyone in the game," Kapil added.

The Indian cricket icon said even though the Jharkhand wicketkeeper is not a gifted player, he is a good striker of the ball.

"He is an unbelievable talent. He has good technique and strikes the ball very hard."

Kapil also praised Dhoni's attacking batting, saying he doesn't look out of place even while playing aggressively.

"Look at Shahid Afridi [Images]; he always plays attacking shots, but he always looks out of place. This is not the case with Dhoni; he is just outstanding," Kapil said.

But he refrained from comparing him to the likes of Vivian Richards or other great strokemakers.

"Don't compare him with anyone right now. He has just played five Tests. Let him play around 25 Tests and then we will know his ability."

The former India coach also praised debutant pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, who scalped four wickets in Pakistan's first innings.

"I am happy to see a youngster taking four wickets on debut on a pitch supporting the batsmen. He has the talent to go a long way, but it all depends on the hard work that he puts," Kapil added.

The 48-year-old expressed his disapproval of the pitches that have been provided in the current series.

"In the last 15 years I haven't heard so much criticism about a pitch. The pitches are very bad for cricket. They must prepare sporting wickets to produce results. Every cricketer would like to have a result-oriented pitch.

"I will give the man of the series awards to the groundsmen for preparing such wickets. However, Indian batsmen have showed a lot of character and have performed better than expected. You never expected them to perform so well after conceding a total of 700," Kapil said.

He also refused to comment on Sourav Ganguly's [Images] exclusion, saying too much has been made of it.

"We have spoken a lot about Sourav in the last three months. If he is worth his place in the team then he will come back; else, he has done a great service for the country."