Underfire for his form, Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday received a sound backing from former Sri Lankan batting ace Aravinda D'Silva who said the Indian star must be spared the intense media scrutiny to allow him to play his best at the World Cup next year.
The former Sri Lankan captain said the constant scrutiny put Tendulkar under a lot of pressure which in turn affected his confidence.
"I think he has been a lot under the scrutiny of the media and the cricket lovers. The media and the whole country needs to get behind him and support him and get the best of him leading into the World Cup, because he will be needed badly at the premier competition," he said on the sidelines of a press conference here by Neo Sports channel which announced its telecast schedule till 2010.
"He has lost a great degree of his confidence and he is doubting his ability because of the pressure factor," added D'Silva, the chief architect of Sri Lanka's only World Cup success ten years back.
D'Silva also said since the arrival of Virender Sehwag on the scene, Tendulkar had changed his style of batting by being defensive, he should bat the way he used to earlier.
{{/usCountry}}D'Silva also said since the arrival of Virender Sehwag on the scene, Tendulkar had changed his style of batting by being defensive, he should bat the way he used to earlier.
{{/usCountry}}The Sri Lankan batting great also felt that Yuvraj Singh's absence was felt in the one-day series as the Punjab batsman was a good player of pace bowling.