Sandeep Patil, who also spoke about how MS Dhoni was almost sacked from his position as the Indian ODI captain before the 2015 World Cup, mentioned that there were plans to drop legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar from the ODI team in late 2012.

Considered by many as the greatest batsman to grace the 50-over game, Tendulkar had lost form after the 2011 World Cup and with age against him, the selectors wanted to look to the future.

After the victorious World Cup at home, Tendulkar scored 315 runs in the 10 ODIs that he played in, at an average of 31.50 – a far cry from his career average.

Patil said that the selectors met Tendulkar on 12 December 2012 to discuss his future plans. The Indian great would go on to announce his retirement just 11 days later.

In an interview with Marathi news channel ABP Majha, Patil said: “On December 12, 2012, we met Sachin and asked him about his future plans. He said he did not have retirement on his mind, but the selection committee had reached a consensus on Sachin and had informed the board too about it.

“Perhaps Sachin understood what was coming because at the time of the next meeting, Sachin called and said he was retiring (from ODIs). If he had not announced his decision to quit then, we would have definitely dropped him.”

Tendulkar retired with 18426 runs in 463 ODI matches at an average of 44.83 with 49 centuries to his name. No cricketer has played more ODIs, scored more ODI runs or registered more ODI centuries than the Mumbai-born cricketer.

The former Indian opener was also the first batsman to hit a double century in the 50-over game at the international level.