Centurion, May 21: Sachin Tendulkar says ageing players in the Indian Premier League have showed Twenty20 cricket is all about "fitness and smart thinking", breaking the myth that the format is only meant for the youngsters.

"I don’t think Twenty20 cricket is only a young man’s game. Talent and smart thinking is the criteria for Twenty20 cricket. Fitness is equally important. Look at Sanath (Jayasuriya), he is nearly 40, or Matthew Hayden. They are striking the ball as well as they have ever been," Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar, who opted out of Twenty20 internationals, has himself played some scintillating innings. One such breathtaking knock came alongside Jayasuriya against Kolkata Knight Riders where the two bludgeoned the bowling attack.

Tendulkar is quick to admit that batting was the weakness of Mumbai Indians. "Overall we have played reasonably good cricket. It just that our batting faltered at crucial stages.

"We started well defeating Chennai with an all-round performance, then we had a week off. It was almost a forced break as our match with Rajasthan Royals was washed off. We could not add those 12-13 runs more to our scores and gave away one or two extra runs. Our bowling was very much on the track, it just that we could not finish the matches," he said.

"You cannot be predictable in this form of cricket. We were finding it difficult to finish matches and so we kept changing the combination and hoped for a good result. Sometimes it worked for us like when Dwayne Bravo was promoted to open against Kings XI Punjab and he was terrific."

— IANS