Sachin Tendulkar contemplated retirement, he was ‘deeply unhappy’: Gary Kirsten

In an interaction with Adam Collins on the ‘The Final Word cricket podcast’, Kirsten revealed that the India legend was “deeply unhappy” and was mulling retirement.

“The standout for me then was what kind of leadership was then required to take this very talented team and turn it into a world-beating team. That was the conundrum for any coach moving into that situation. When I took over there was definitely a lot of scaring in the team. There was a lot of unhappiness and hence for me it was more important to understand each individual.

“Tendulkar 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,” the former South Africa opener said.

Dhoni’s role in Tendulkar’s refound love for cricket

The 55-year-old further revealed that MS Dhoni’s focus and detirmination to win trophies motivated others including Tendulkar.

“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,” he explained.

The India team went on to win the 2011 World Cup under the coaching of Gary Kirsten. Tendulkar scored 482 runs (inclduing two hundreds and two fifties) in nine matches at an average of 53.55. The tally was second-highest in the tournament. Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 18 more runs than him.