As Sourav Ganguly went through a bad patch recently, suggestions were made to give the captaincy back to Sachin Tendulkar, but the batting maestro said on Monday that he was not thinking about leading the team "at the moment".

"But I haven't ruled it out also," Tendulkar told PTI in an interview in Bulawayo as the Indian team took a break ahead of the final league encounter in the triangular one-day series against West Indies on Wednesday.

Tendulkar sought to dispel suggestions that the burden of captaincy had hampered his batting in the past and said his first double hundred came when he was leading the side. "Only, I think when I was the captain, we played South Africa, West Indies and Australia... probably the toughest tours. I don't think it affected my batting as such." But he did admit that captaincy had hampered him "as a person" though he did not elaborate.

His success or failure has become almost synonymous with those of his team, yet Tendulkar downplayed his importance in the side emphasising that cricket was a team game. "I have always felt an individual cannot win or lose a game. It's teamwork. We lose, we go down as a team. We win, we win as a team."

"How did we win the first Test in Bulawayo (against Zimbabwe) where neither a hundred was scored nor a five-wicket haul managed? It was because of a team effort," he stressed. That also put an end to criticism that he had been unable to win more Test matches for India on foreign soil.

Tendulkar said his hunger for runs had not died down and he still was "motivated enough" even against the relatively weaker sides "to try and get as many runs as possible". But challenges do spur him on. "When the situation demands you produce good results, that's (challenges) what one thrives for," he said.

And it doesn't matter whether he is playing Tests or one-dayers, his sole concentration is on giving a "quality performance and not quantity"."I have always felt it is only cricket I am playing - not Tests or one-dayers. I try to keep it simple. I am good enough to adjust to both the forms (of cricket)," he said making an obvious understatement.

Tendulkar said he was by instinct an "attacking player" and named Sunil Gavaskar and West Indian great Viv Richards as the batsmen he looked up to. "I have always had high regard for these two players. When it comes to attacking batting, Viv is the best and when it comes to solid stuff, Gavaskar is the best," he said.

Tendulkar dispelled doubts that his back injury had curtailed his natural instinct against rising balls. "It has nothing to do with my back injury. Sometimes I feel I should not attack and just play and sometimes I feel if I attack it might work in my favour," he said.

"Like in Chennai (last Test against Australia), Glenn McGrath was trying to provoke me. He bowled a few short ones with the new ball and wanted me to hook. I felt I was in control of the game and I went for it. Here (in Zimbabwe), I felt I wasn't in control to play pull and hook shots. It has probably nothing to do with my back but it's the state of mind and the situation of the game," Tendulkar said.

He also found nothing wrong with his paddle sweep shot which he sometimes executes from very close to the stumps. "It's worked quite well for me and I feel pretty confident with it. If I force a captain to keep one fielder there (for the paddle sweep), I get an opening somewhere in the ground. It's four or five years since I've begun playing this shot and not once have I got out to it."

Though Tendulkar doesn't have superstitions he does have the 'habit' of wearing his left pad first. "I have always done that right from school cricket. It's just a habit." Tendulkar is changing his food habits and shifting to more green vegetables instead of having "chicken, fish, prawn and all that". And though it is rarely that he gets provoked, he said "it is a bit difficult for people around me when I lose control".

© PTI