When Sachin Tendulkar Told Selector Chandu Borde That He No Longer Wanted To Captain India

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar achieved almost everything that this beautiful game to offer; whether it is scoring mountains of runs or truckloads of hundreds or memorable overseas Test wins or the World Cup medal [2011].

But if there is one thing that Sachin did not really succeed in (and for a variety of reasons) was as the captain of the Indian cricket team. Sachin led Indians in two separate stints between 1996-2000, and it came to an end following the disastrous 1999-2000 tour of Australia where the Men in Blue were whitewashed 0-3 and the succeeding home series defeat to South Africa in early 2000.

Chandu Border, who was the national selector at the time, has revealed how Sachin came to him and said that he didn’t want to captain anymore as his batting was getting affected and also because he was able to get the best out of his team.

“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,” Chandu Borde told Sportskeeda.

Also Read: Madan Lal Reveals The Advice He Gave To Sourav Ganguly That Was The Latter’s Turning Point

Chandu Borde reveals what Sachin Tendulkar told him while relinquishing his captaincy duties

Borde further revealed that he was slated by some of his teammates for not being able to convince Sachin. He, however, added that the selection committee then decided to make Sourav Ganguly the captain so that he can lead the team into a new direction post the match-fixing scandal.

“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 concluded.

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar captained India in 25 Tests and 73 ODIs between 1996-2000. While he lost 43 and won just 23 ODIs, in Test cricket, his team came out trumps on four occasions.

Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar Focused On His Performance Not The Team As ‘Captain’: Madan Lal