Sachin Tendulkar was 'deeply unhappy' when I joined as India coach: Gary Kirsten

Former India coach Gary Kirsten has revealed the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was not particularly pleased when he took over as the head coach of the side in 2007. India were reocked after their first round exit at the ODI World Cup 2007, following defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. That brought an end to quite an unpopular era under Greg Chappell.

Tendulkar was asked to bat at four during the tournament despite him tasting a lot of success opening the batter and after the mega event he revealed that he even contemplated retirement. 

Speaking of the initial days of his coaching stint with India, Kirsten on ‘The Final Word cricket podcast’ recalled, "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."

Tendulkar stuck around and he eventually fulfilled his dream of winning the World Cup, under Kirsten's coaching, at home in 2011.