'Sachin wanted to retire when I joined Indian team': Former coach shares stirring details

Essaying the role of the Indian head coach comes with great expectations and responsibilities and the Indian cricket team has been blessed with several good and bad coaches over the years. While the team has prospered under coaches like John Wright and Ravi Shastri, the team has seen some tough days under the tenures of Greg Chapell and Kapil Dev. Meanwhile, the team has attained world champions status in 2011 under the coaching of Gary Kristen.

India won the ICC ODI World Cup for the first time in 28 years when Kristen was serving as the head coach for the Men In Blue. In a recent conversation, with Adam Collins in 'The Final Word cricket podcast' show on YouTube the former India coach recalled an intense when the legendary Sachin Tendulkar was deeply unhappy. The former South Africa captain added that Tendulkar was seemingly contemplating retirement during that period.

This came after India’s disappointing campaign at the 2007 ICC ODI World Cup. The great cricketer was linked with reports claiming he wanted to retire after the Rahul Dravid-led Team India exited the World Cup from the group stage, failing to advance into the Super 8s. Kristen was appointed as the head coach of India in December 2007, months after the ODI World Cup and also after India won the inaugural ICC Men’s T20 World Cup under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.

"Dhoni meanwhile was standout as a leader"

Meanwhile, speaking on the podcast, Kristen said, “Sachin was probably a stand-out for me because he was deeply unhappy at the time that I joined the team. He felt he had a lot to offer, but he wasn't enjoying his cricket and he was at a time in his career when he felt may be he should retire. It was important for me to connect with him and make him feel that he had a massive contribution to make to the team and his contribution was more than what he needed to do”.

“Any coach would want a group of players playing for the name on the front of the short and not the name on the back of the shirt. India is a tough place with a lot of hype around individual superstar and you often get lost in what your own personal needs are. And Dhoni meanwhile was standout as a leader as he was so focused on the team doing well he wanted to win trophies and have great success and he was very public about that. And that pulled a lot of other guys into line and quite simply Sachin started enjoying cricket as well," Kristen explained.