Legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday expressed his disappointment at India's humiliating loss against England in the T20 World Cup semifinal but urged the critics not to "judge" the side based on one defeat.
In the semifinal match at Adelaide, England defeated India by 10 wickets and chased 169 easily on Thursday.
"I know the semi-final was disappointing against England. I'm of the same vote. We are all the well-wishers of Indian cricket," Tendulkar was quoted as saying in a video.
"But also let us not judge our team only by this performance, because we have been the world No. 1 T20 side as well. Getting to that number-one spot does not happen overnight. You have to play good cricket over a period of time. That's what the team has done," he added.
"168 at Adelaide wasn't a great total. The dimension of the ground is completely different, the side-boundaries are really, really short. I would have said maybe 190 or so, or around that would have been a good total, 168 at Adelaide is equivalent to 150 or so any other ground.
Earlier Sachin had shared an emotional post supporting India on the match-day.
"To me that's not a competitive total. So, let's accept that we did not put up a good score, and so was the case with our bowling when it came to picking wickets we were unsuccessful.
"It was a tough game for us. 170 for no loss (for England), that's a bad defeat, rather disappointing," Tendulkar added.
But, the former captain went on to lend his support to the team and said win and loss are part of the game.
"By no means, I'm trying to say that you know so these kinds of performances are 'okay'. Players also didn't want to go out and fail. Players also want to go out and win for the country.
"But every day it does not happen. in sports, these ups and downs are there. it cannot be victories are ours and losses are theirs. We have to be in it together."
