New Delhi: Retired batting legend Sachin&nbsp;Tendulkar today revealed that not getting a long tenure as&nbsp;India's cricket captain was one "big disappointment he found&nbsp;tough to overcome given the number of challenges he endured.
Tendulkar's two tenures as captain of India were not&nbsp;very successful and are considered the rare blips in what was&nbsp;otherwise a glittering 24 years in international cricket.
He first took over as skipper in 1996 but by&nbsp;1997 the team was performing so poorly that he was dropped&nbsp;from the position.
And Tendulkar today said not getting a long rope as&nbsp;skipper was a huge disappointment for him.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/jan/S-Tendulkar0101.jpg" alt="Sachin Tendulkar during 2007 World Cup in West Indies" width="650" height="556" /> Sachin Tendulkar during the 2007 World Cup match against SL at Port of Spain. Pic/AFP
"To me, cricket is team work and not about individuals.&nbsp;There are stages where captain come into play and captain will&nbsp;guide, take important decisions on the field but eventually&nbsp;the batsmen would have to go out and score runs and the&nbsp;bowlers have to land the ball in those areas," Tendulkar said&nbsp;here.
"I was also dropped from captaincy after only 12-13&nbsp;months in my first stint. That was a disappointment because&nbsp;you select the captain thinking that he is going to take the&nbsp;team forward and then if that stint is not long enough, then&nbsp;the success rate becomes zero. If you play four matches, you&nbsp;lose two, then you are 50 per cent successful, so on and so&nbsp;forth.
"My tenure was not long enough and it was a big&nbsp;disappointment for me to overcome," he added.
Tendulkar, who bid adieu to the game in 2013, compared&nbsp;his own captaincy stint with India's disastrous Test tours&nbsp;of England and Australia in 2011.&nbsp;
"Cricket to me is a team sport and when I was a captain&nbsp;there were some tough tours. We went to the West Indies and&nbsp;they were a better side. We went to South Africa and&nbsp;Australia, there were number of challenges that I met with. "One common thing that I experienced during my captaincy&nbsp;period and 2011 when India went to tour England and Australia,&nbsp;we lost Test matches because there were no runs on the board&nbsp;and we gave away far too many runs," the 41-year-old said.&nbsp;
"The same thing happened during tours under my captaincy&nbsp;when there were not many runs on the board and we could not&nbsp;pick those 20 wickets. We lost four Test matches in England&nbsp;and four in Australia," he recalled.
With the ICC Cricket World Cup currently underway in&nbsp;Australia and New Zealand, the question of who are favourites&nbsp;to lift the trophy was expected to pop up and Tendulkar had no&nbsp;qualms in saying that he foresees India defending the title.
"The way India is playing, they will win the World Cup. I&nbsp;am so impressed with the team. We bowled well, batted well and&nbsp;(have been) fielding well. There is not a single department&nbsp;which we didn't tick, we have done consistently well," he&nbsp;said.
"First there was this question mark whether we will be&nbsp;able to beat Pakistan, I think we don't give full credit to&nbsp;the team when they do well. I will give full credit to the&nbsp;team. We outclassed South Africa, they didn't play badly but&nbsp;we made them look like that.
"I think when Mohit Sharma got AB de Villiers through a&nbsp;run out that was the turning point. Every individual chipped&nbsp;in, that has helped us through," Tendulkar said.&nbsp;
Tendulkar also made his displeasure clear about the&nbsp;recent rule changes in ODIs, like five fielders inside the&nbsp;circle at all times during an innings, and said it has made&nbsp;life difficult for the bowlers, who are already at the&nbsp;receiving end.
"Cricket is changing and the last change has been a&nbsp;little harsh on the bowlers. With five fielders inside the&nbsp;circle, the par score, which was earlier 260 or 270 has become&nbsp;310 or so. And even if you score 290, commentators say it is&nbsp;chaseable.
"But few years ago that was a big total so I am not so&nbsp;pleased with that change. Because on one hand we want to&nbsp;encourage bowlers and produce quality cricket but on the other&nbsp;hand, by these restriction you are tying their hands and it&nbsp;puts a lot pressure. If you are not a quality bowler, you&nbsp;cannot survive with these rules," he opined.&nbsp;
On whether he regrets his decision to quit the game&nbsp;nearly two years back, Tendulkar said: "Absolutely not.&nbsp;Cricket has always been fun for me. I thoroughly enjoyed those&nbsp;challenges. My body now won't be able to sustain that&nbsp;pressure, one or two games here and there you can manage. 
"I played an exhibition game at Lord's last year after&nbsp;seven months of my retirement. I thoroughly enjoyed being&nbsp;there in the middle but then the next morning my body said&nbsp;that it was a wise decision to retire." 
Tendulkar said he enjoyed watching his first game from&nbsp;the stands after retirement. 
"It was sheer joy to watch our team play against South&nbsp;Africa in Melbourne. My first match after retirement from the&nbsp;stand. It was a new experience for me but a very pleasant&nbsp;one." 
Tendulkar said even though he was "madly in love" with&nbsp;cricket, staying away from family and friends was the toughest&nbsp;thing of his career. 
"The best thing about being Sachin Tendulkar is I was&nbsp;madly in love with cricket. I am still in love with cricket.&nbsp;How many people get to live their passion through their career&nbsp;and also make life and money from it," he said. 
"But from the age of 14 I started travelling. I missed&nbsp;out on spending time with my family, friends. I have missed&nbsp;birthdays of my children Sara and Arjun, I missed a number of&nbsp;special occasions. The toughest thing for me was that my son&nbsp;was not so happy that I was playing cricket and leaving him at&nbsp;home. He was three and in the next six years of his life he&nbsp;didn't speak to me on phone when I was away. It was really&nbsp;difficult for me. 
"Staying away from them was the toughest thing in my&nbsp;life," Tendulkar added. 
Tendulkar's son Arjun seems to be following his father's&nbsp;footsteps as he has already started age group cricket for&nbsp;Mumbai, but the champion batsman said he will never impose his&nbsp;decisions on the junior Tendulkar's career. 
"My father never pressurised me. He never told me I am a&nbsp;writer so you also have to start writing. He gave me complete&nbsp;freedom. Whatever I dreamt of he supported me.&nbsp;
"My father didn't want to live his dreams through my&nbsp;career and the same thing goes with me. The kind of freedom&nbsp;that I had I want Arjun to have the same. He chose to play&nbsp;cricket. If he wants to play for India then I will go all out&nbsp;to support him," he said.&nbsp;
Tendulkar recalled how he cried like a baby after failing&nbsp;to guide India home in a Test match against Pakistan way back&nbsp;in 1999 and considered that loss as a regret. 
"One regret has to be when Pakistan toured India in&nbsp;1998-99. We were playing in Chennai. We lost the Test by 12&nbsp;runs. I scored a century and we are on course for an victory.&nbsp;We had four wickets and I scored a century but I got out and&nbsp;we lost the match.
"After the game I cried like a baby in the dressing room.&nbsp;I didn't go out to take the man of the match award. That is&nbsp;one regret, I feel I should have controlled my emotions and&nbsp;gone out to receive the award," he said. 
Tendulkar, a role model for many youngsters all over the&nbsp;world, said there is no alternative for hard work and advised&nbsp;coming generation to avoid shortcuts.&nbsp;"I had to work hard, all successful people work hard.&nbsp;Nothing comes easily," he said.&nbsp;

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Revealed! Sachin Tendulkar regrets not being India skipper longer

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