Sachin was mentally fragile at one point: Chappell

Sachin was mentally fragile at one point: Chappell

October 24, 2011 09:42 GMT

Former Australian great Greg Chappell said in a new book that cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar was mentally fragile at a certain stage of his illustrious career and was beset with self-doubt. Chappell, who had a stormy and controversial three-year stint as the Indian team's coach from 2005-07 made the claim about Tendulkar in a new book called 'Fierce Focus'.

"At one point early in my time with the (Indian) team ... he came and talked to me for about two hours," Chappell wrote in his new book, a brief extract of which was published in the Herald Sun.

"He was frustrated with his form and racked with self-doubt. Since he'd come back in Malaysia (in a one-day tournament in 2006), Sachin's mental state had been surprisingly fragile and he came to me for help," Chappell wrote, apparently referring to a period when Tendulkar was struggling for form, besides also having surgery for tennis elbow.

Chappell went on to say that the unrealistic weight of expectation that Tendulkar has had to bear throughout his career could have also affected him at the time.

"When the team travelled, he would snap on his headphones, not look sideways, and shut it all out. Not even Don Bradman carried expectations like this, and Sachin had been bearing it since 1989," Chappell said in the book.

"He just couldn't get any rest. Once we were talking ... and I said, 'You must have so many friends, it must be hard finding time to keep in touch with all of them'. He looked me in the eye and said, 'Greg, you would have more friends in India than I've got'," Chappell said.

Chappell's views on Tendulkar came barely two months before what is almost certainly going to be the Indian maestro's last Test tour of Australia this summer.