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[caption id="attachment_16216" align="alignnone" width="580"] Former selection committee chairman Sandeep Patil. File Pic.[/caption] Internet Desk: Former selection committee chairman Sandeep Patil said he and his committee were thinking about dropping Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as both the star players were going through a bad phase. The 35 year old Patil, in an interview to ABP Majha confessed that situation got so worse that they started thinking about dropping the two senior cricketers. Honest and straight forward, Patil managed to dodge direct questions on Dhoni's future as captain of India's limited-overs sides but having finished his term, the former middle-order batsman said his committee had indeed discussed removing Dhoni as captain of the ODI and T20I teams, especially after his shock retirement from Test cricket at the end of 2014, in the middle of a series against Australia. Dhoni, surprised everyone with his shock retirement from test cricket in the middle of the test series Down Under after drawing the test match at Melbourne. But soon after the post-match press conference, BCCI sent out a note, informing the world that Dhoni had decided to call it a day in test cricket. There were no further comments - neither from the board nor Dhoni nor the selectors. Patil now says Dhoni told him that his decision was made because he did not feel up to scratch - physically and mentally. The former selection committee chairman said the selectors also thought about dropping him from ODIs & T20s as he was not in the greatest of form. He discussed the burning issue with his colleagues not once but several times. However, with the World Cup barely a few weeks away, the committee decided to stick to the old guard. "But we selected him because the World Cup was round the corner. - if you try, before the World Cup, giving a new player the captaincy seat, give him a good run. But that opportunity didn't come to the selectors. We didn't have enough time to experiment," Patil said. The former selection committee also had to face the difficult situation involving Sachin Tendulkar. The master blaster considered to be a legend was similarly passing through a bad phase with the bat. The situation got so worse that they thought about dropping him from the 2012 Indian ODI team had he not retired before that. "On December 12, 2012, we met Sachin and asked him about his future plans. He said he did not have retirement on his mind. But the selection committee had reached a consensus on Sachin... and had informed the board too about it. Perhaps Sachin understood what was coming because at the time of the next meeting, Sachin called and said he was retiring (from ODIs). If he had not announced his decision to quit then, we would have definitely dropped him," said Patil. Patil's admission confirms the speculation that Sachin was pressured into leaving by the selectors because of his inadequate form.