Mumbai, Mar 2 The Reliance Industries-owned Mumbai franchisee had gone to last month's IPL players auction armed with a strategy and wish-list outlined by master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and executed them to a large extent, according to the chief representative of the franchisee.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, the President and Chief Marketing Officer of Reliance Retail Limited, R Balachandran said he would give a figure of 8 on a 1-10 scale about the outcome of the February 20 auction in which they trained their focus on roping in match-winning players.

"We went into the auction with a fairly clear idea of what we wanted. He (Tendulkar) thinks cricket from many angles and thinks continuously. We had a lot of dialogue. He had a wish-list and there was a strategy behind the players that we went out to pick and the players we got. We executed that strategy.

"He sought specific players. If you look at the players you will see we have selected people who by themselves are match-winners. That's a very important aspect.

"Yes, we came out a happy lot. If you put it in a scale of 1-10, I would say it probably would be around 8", said Balachandran, who headed the Mumbai franchisee team at the auction held here.

"I believe its not just possession but a question of choosing match winners. This is what is behind a good amount of our strategy. I know Sachin's mind has worked on all this a lot", he elaborated. (Agencies)