Didn't know, so didn't comment in book, Sachin Tendulkar on fixing

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar has shied away from touching on perhaps the darkest phase in Indian cricket -- the match-fixing scandal -- in his much-awaited autobiography, saying he chose to skirt the issue as it would have been "unwise" to comment on things he was not fully aware of.

Speaking to a select group of journalists ahead of the worldwide launch of ' Playing It My Way' here, Tendulkar sought to clarify just why he chose not to write about the scandal during which he was a part of the Indian dressing room.

The furore in the late '90s had led to a life ban on former captain Mohammed Azharuddin and bans of lesser severity on some others like Ajay Jadeja.

"I think whatever things I knew 100 per cent I have revealed because I back up those things. But the things I am not aware of fully, it would be unwise to comment on those," Tendulkar said.

"I should have some evidence, I should know something in detail to talk about it because then it makes sense and it will be appreciated by people. But if I just start talking then it will not have any value," he said.

Asked whether he felt that some players under-performed deliberately during that phase, Tendulkar chose to offer a straight bat.

"No, I mean the guys fail, but who doesn't fail in life, everyone fails. It would be unfair to just pinpoint at someone and say that he was under-performing, didn't try his best, I can't. I have played the sport for 24 years and failures do happen," he reasoned.

Another pointed question came on the perception that he never took a stand on major issues but Tendulkar said his book answers the issue.

"If you see in my book, issues on which people believed I should have taken a stand, the only things which I was 100 per cent sure of I stood for that in my book," he said.

"If you have read some of the articles I have expressed myself whole-heartedly but on things which were not first-hand information, it is unwise to do that, it is (like) a loose statement and I didn't want to fire loose statements," he said.