March 20, 2011 (CricIndian): Former Indian captain, Mohammad Azharuddin in a recent interview to GQ magazine has said that he doesn't want to talk about Sachin Tendulkar.
Replying to a question on why Sachin didn't succeed him as the captain of Indian team, he said, "I don't want to talk about him. There are some people I just don't want to talk about."
When reminded of reports which claimed he didn't support Sachin when the latter was captain, he said, "Not true. Check the statistics. When he was captain, I scored more runs than anyone else on the team, in both forms of the game." Azhar also added that, "Tendulkar didn't have it in him to succeed as captain."
Azhar, who was banned for life by the ICC after the match fixing scandal a decade ago, is now Member of Parliament from the Congress party. When asked about his present contacts with cricketers, he said, " I am not in touch with anybody. I have a different life now."
Azhar also denied that he never made a statement that he went through tough times during match-fixing scandal because he was a muslim. "No! I never said that. I was misinterpreted. At that time, everyone wanted a piece of the cake and they were writing what they felt like. People talk like that, and I can't help it. I was captain for nine years and I never felt that.," he said.
"No. I didn't do anything wrong. If I had, I would not have achieved so much. I played 17 years for my country. And I gave my best," Azhar said, about the match-fixing scandal.
