Sachin: A Billion Dreams - 5 unknown facts revealed in the movie

#3 Sachin refused captaincy the second time

Sachin couldn’t be as good a captain as he was with the bat

For all his accomplishments with the bat, Sachin could not be as good a captain of the team. The first time that he was made the captain of the national team was in 1996.

However, including the World Cup that was held that year, wherein India crashed out unceremoniously after the crowd created a ruckus during the semi-final at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, that had resulted in the game being awarded to Sri Lanka, India suffered several losses under his captaincy.

Speculations were also rife that the added responsibility had taken a toll on the batsman’s form with the bat as well and as a cumulative effect of all that Tendulkar gave up the captaincy of the team in 1998.

However, post the disappointments of the 1999 World Cup wherein Mohammad Azharuddin led the Indian side, Sachin was offered captaincy for the second time. It was revealed in the movie that Tendulkar had categorically refused to accept the responsibility and had asked the selectors to choose a better man for the job.

Surprisingly, on the very next day, Sachin was named the captain of the team once again, much to the bewilderment of the man even as he didn’t know that the match-fixing allegations that were to follow in 1999-2000 were to change Indian cricket forever.