'Let 'dark chapter' of match-fixing remain closed'

He has spoken at length about each and every important aspect of his 20-year glorious career, but the match-fixing saga that rocked cricket world in 1999 is one episode, Sachin Tendulkar prefers not to talk about.

As Tendulkar completes his 20 years in the game on Sunday, the Indian batting maestro wants to cherish sweet victories and says that 'dark chapters' should remain closed.

"That's a dark chapter and I don't want to reiterate on that on this occasion," he said.

"I thought of something else, which was more fascinating. The series that we played against Australia (2000-01, which India won 2-1 coming from behind), immediately after that.

"It was a three-Test series and five ODIs. The Test series got over in the final half an hour (in Chennai, which India won to clinch the rubber). Also the One-day series was decided literally in the last 30 or 35 minutes.

"All these were instrumental in bringing back the crowds to the stadiums, and we as a team performed really well in that series and we sort of started a new chapter, something that I was looking forward to. The closed chapter, better to keep it closed," he said.

The match-fixing saga had an impact on Indian cricket, as the BCCI imposed life bans on Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma in the wake of the CBI report on the scandal. Five-year bans were handed to Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar as well.

Fondly remembering his on-field battle against Australian spin-legend Shane Warne, Tendulkar revealed how he prepared himself for the intriguing contest.

"In my previous nine years in international cricket I had never faced a leg spinner bowling from round the wicket and in 1998 I prepared myself by asking my Mumbai Ranji Trophy colleagues to bowl round the wicket into the rough.

"In Chennai I asked Siva (Laxman Sivaramakrishnan) to do the same. All these things helped in me getting used to these angles," he said.

Tendulkar also recalled how a stiff neck suffered by opener Navjot Singh Sidhu on the tour of New Zealand in 1994, was instrumental in him becoming an opener in the ODI format.

"I was vice-captain of the team and I asked Azhar (the captain) and (cricket manager) Ajit Wadekar to give me one chance to open, and then I would not ask them again if I failed," he recalled.

Tendulkar hit a quick-fire 82 while opening with Ajay Jadeja. "It helped me grow as a cricketer, to go out and face the new ball," he added.