New Delhi: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Monday said the betting and match-fixing scandal had come as a shock to him but he was confident that this was "just a passing phase" for cricket.

Breaking his silence on the scandal, the former India captain contemptuously dismissed attempts to drag his name into the controversy.

"I have always been out of this kind of things. The nation knows I am clean. My whole career has been transparent. I don't have to go out and say anything in my defense", he said in an interview published in the latest issue of "Outlook."

"The only reason I did not speak about it is that I didn't know anything about it. I would have given a statement if I knew something. So how can I say who is telling the truth and who is not," Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar denied former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif's claim that he knew everything about match-fixing. "It's not true. And it's not necessary that I react to any person's statements."

Tendulkar said Indian cricketers should have some freedom to speak their minds about the game but not on sensitive issues like match-fixing.

"The players should have some freedom to speak about the game, not about things like match-fixing because that's a sensitive issue. Anybody who opens his mouth should also provide proof. It's important not to create controversies. It's the game that'll suffer," he said.

Tendulkar admitted the team's failure to perform to its potential during the Australia tour affected him as a person, which eventually prompted him to step down from captaincy.

"I felt I should step down from the captaincy because I wanted to concentrate on being myself. I was not being myself on the ground. That was because of a few things like the team not playing to its full potential," he said.

"When the team was not able to perform to its best, it worked on my mind. It was not affecting me as a player but it certainly started affecting me as a person. Even off the ground I was just thinking of the game. It was a gradual process but it was getting to me," he said.

Asked why the team could not play to its full potential in Australia, he said the team was let down by a lack of form, tough conditions and simple bad luck.

On how the Indian team could come out of the current mess, Tendulkar said it was necessary to rebuild the team and gain in confidence.

When asked about the presence of four top Mumbai bookies at his wedding, Tendulkar said: "As far as I am concerned, there was not a single person of that description at the wedding. I don't know why people are dragging my name into this."