India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar was heart-broken and wanted to leave cricket after India’s first round exit from the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. While speaking to a TV channel he said: “I still remember (after) 2007 (World Cup) when I came back home, I was so depressed and so upset with the way we had performed. I actually thought of retiring then. I called my brother over, Ajit, and told him that I do not want to continue,” Tendulkar said.
“The game has been cruel to us and I want to stop. That was when he said, “can you imagine in 2011 you are here at Wankhede stadium holding that beautiful trophy. That is when you should think of retiring”. That conversation really helped and it motivated me to go out and play with a purpose,” the legend said.
That year, India had lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the group stage to crash out of the big tournament. Later on, the board had rested five cricketers from the Indian team, which was touring Bangladesh. Apart from Tendulkar, the selectors had given rest to Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan.
