India, March 21 -- Gary Kirsten, the former South Africa opening batter who was recently appointed as Sri Lanka's head coach, opened up on his tenure with India from 2008-2011, revealing his initial conversations with the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar. Kirsten, who oversaw Men in Blue's 2011 World Cup triumph, said that Tendulkar wanted to retire from international cricket after the 2007 World Cup debacle, when India crashed out in the group stage.

It's not a secret that Sachin was not pleased during Greg Chappell's reign as the head coach, with the right-hander being shuffled up and down the batting order on quite a few occasions. Hence, when Kirsten took up the India head coach role, he went straight to Sachin first and asked him ab...