Sachin Tendulkar didn’t want to continue as India’s captain, wished to focus on batting: Chandu Borde

Chandu Borde, the former BCCI selection committee chairman, said that Sachin Tendulkar didn’t have much interests in captaining Team India at the highest level. Back in 1999, India toured Australia for a Test series and a tri-nation series also involving Pakistan. Even as in the 50-overs format, the Men in Blue could muster one win out of eight games, they lost the Tests 0-3.

It was after the same tour that Sachin expressed his desire to give up captaincy. Thereafter, India lost the home Test against South Africa 0-2 and the series became Sachin’s last as the Indian captain. Borde said that he tried to convince Sachin, but the Master Blaster wanted to focus on his batting.

In the Tests in Australia, Sachin was the leading run-scorer, notching 278 runs in three matches. Yet he felt that he wasn’t living up to the expectations. Borde also narrated how Sourav Ganguly became the Indian skipper. Later, Ganguly went on to change the face of cricket in the country.

Sachin Tendulkar wanted to concentrate on his batting, says Borde

“See, if you remember, Sachin, we had sent him as a captain to Australia, and he led the side there, but when he came back, he didn’t want to continue. He said, ‘No, I want to concentrate on my batting.’ Therefore, I tried to convince him to lead the side for a long time because we were on the lookout for a new captain, a new generation,” Borde was quoted as saying in Sportskeeda.

“But he said, ‘I want to concentrate on my batting because I could not get the performance that I wanted to put in for the team.’ And this is what happened. So, in fact, some of my colleagues were annoyed with me. They said, ‘Why you are insisting him to continue all the time!’ I said we are looking forward to the future, but then in the end we had selected Ganguly,” he added.

Out of 25 Tests, Sachin could only lead India to four victories, losing nine. In ODI, Tendulkar managed 23 wins in 73 matches for the Men in Blue. Though he didn’t have a great stint as the skipper, he turned out to be successful in batting, scoring 100 centuries for Team India.