'I thought Sachin Tendulkar was the best possible captain of India before he became captain'

Former diplomat Shashi Tharoor recently spoke about the great Sachin Tendulkar's stint as the captain of the Indian cricket team. He stated that the Master Blaster wasn't the most inspirational leader, and had to concentrate on his own batting as well.

In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Cricket's Facebook page, the politician claimed that he has loved every skipper that India have ever had.

After giving his opinions on all the great captains India have seen, such as Tiger Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar, Tharoor gave his opinion on Sachin Tendulkar's tenure.

"I thought Tendulkar was the best possible captain of India before he became captain. Because when he was not captain, he was so active - he was fielding in the slips, running up to the captain of the day, giving advice and encouragement."

'Sachin Tendulkar was not the most motivational captain' - Tharoor

The Master Blaster didn't have a highly successful spell as Indian captain

Tharoor continued by mentioning that although Sachin Tendulkar didn't have the greatest Indian team at his disposal, he didn't exactly inspire the side to great heights.

"I said let's make this guy captain because he really is there in every way. When he became captain, it didn't work out. He had a not terribly strong Indian team in his days of captaincy, but he himself would admit that was not the most inspirational, motivational captain."

The 64-year-old added that Sachin Tendulkar was more than happy to give up captaincy and focus on his own batting.

"This was partially because he had his own batting to think about. And in the end, he happily gave up captaincy and refused to take it when it was offered again later."

Sachin Tendulkar captained India in 73 ODIs and 25 Tests, with win percentages of 35.07 and 16 respectively. The former Mumbai Indians skipper resigned from Indian captaincy after the fixing scandal at the turn of the century, and was succeeded by the legendary Sourav Ganguly.