Centurion: The Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar said losing crucial player in the middle of the tournament and inconsistent batting cost them a place in the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Tendulkar though refused to believe that were outclassed by any of the opponents.

“The big difference till now has been of just two-three runs so far, very rarely the other side has beaten us overwhelmingly. Eventually if we had scored that extra run here and there, then maybe we would have been in the semis.

“The biggest blow was after the first six games, we lost three players from the playing XI. We lost Zaheer Khan and Shikhar Dhawan, we had traded both of them. We lost them after six games.

“Also Saurabh Tiwary, he played a practice game, and he had really played well. I was pretty confident that he would come in and play some big shots. That sort of disturbed the balance I think,” Tendulkar said after their last league match which they lost by four wickets to the Delhi DareDevils.

The Mumbaikar also believes that it would not be easy to roll over the DareDevils in the last-four stage.

“Without any doubt the Delhi Daredevils have really really played well. Their batting looks pretty solid, the bowling is also balanced. So all in all, I think it is a very strong side and one will have to be on the top of their game to beat them,” he said.

Talking about his captaincy in the Twenty20 tournament, Tendulkar said, “It’s been good, it’s been tough. There have been times when you can’t do much. If we were batting, and we have got...that match against the Rajasthan Royals, I just could not do anything. I was sitting inside.”

Asked for his reaction on the DareDevils coach Greg Shippered’s idea that five foreign players should be allowed to play in the team, Tendulkar said players hardly had any say in technical matters. “I don’t know at this stage...I am not really thinking about that. But maybe it is something which could be discussed. And it is a decision taken by the franchises more than the players,” he said. (PTI)