India’s legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has termed the phase of 2006-07 as the lowest in the country’s cricketing history. India had suffered a massive defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the league stage of the 2007 ODI World Cup in the Caribbean. They then went on to lose against Sri Lanka and managed to win against Bermuda only.

The lackluster performance meant that India were knocked out of the tournament in the first round itself. The team received heavy criticism and the players like Sachin Tendulkar faced the anger of the fans. Recalling the disappointing World Cup, he said that it was the lowest phase in Indian cricketing history.

“I think 2006-07 were possibly our lowest [phase]. We didn’t qualify for the Super 8 stage of the 2007 World Cup. But we got back from there and started fresh thinking, we started moving in a new direction,” the 43-year-old recalled at a programme. “We had to make a lot of changes. And once we had planned what we had to achieve as a team, we were committed to it and the results followed,” he added.

Things changed massively post that tournament. As MS Dhoni became the captain of the side, the team started winning big tournaments. Tendulkar pointed out that the side changed a lot of things. Those worked for the good and finally, the dream of lifting the World Cup got fulfilled for the great man after 21 years when India lifted the prestigious trophy in the year 2011 at the Wankhede Stadium, the place where Tendulkar grew up playing cricket.

“We had to change a lot of things. Whether they were right or wrong we didn’t know. The change did not happen overnight. We had to wait for results. In fact, it took me 21 years of my career to lift that beautiful World Cup trophy,” Tendulkar added.