17 May,2009 06:55 AM IST | | Sanjjeev K Samyal
With Mumbai Indians making a mess of their semi-final prospects for the second year in the running, it's natural to expect Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy to come under scrutiny.
About his IPL experience, he said: "I took up the challenge and I enjoyed it. And I think it was lot of fun.
Obviously, when you win, it is sweeter and more satisfying but unfortunately that hasn't been the case. I have enjoyed and it has been a good challenge working with the youngsters in the team and also the foreign players."
He blamed the debacle on playing poor cricket in crucial situations. "Whenever there was a crunch moment that was the time we faltered. It is very disappointing specially losing a match from winning positions.
"It is not that the guys have not played freely. Occasionally, you lose wickets and you don't have the momentum in batting or bowling. And you try to shift gear and that happens. On the whole, I feel we tried and certain things have not clicked.
"Definitely from a package point of view the batting, bowling and fielding was okay but maybe the batting lacked a little more than the rest."
No luck
He admitted that the domestic players did not measure up to the level during the tournament. "That was probably one factor where we sort of lacked I felt. With the big names you want domestic players also to perform well. And we obviously have got good players, but it didn't work this time."
About the younger players being in awe of him and that is what could have held them back from playing their natural game, Tendulkar said it was natural, but he tried his best to make them as comfortable as possible.
