'I was not enjoying it' - Dravid

Rahul Dravid, who resigned as India's captain last week, has said that being the leader took a lot out of him.

"I had done the job for two years and they have been pretty eventful couple of years," Dravid told PTI. "Obviously it takes a lot out of you and I felt that I was not enjoying it.

"The decision was personal and based on my observation of whether I would be able to give it my very best like I have always tried to," Dravid said. "Finally, you have to be comfortable yourself that you will be giving it your best and not going through the motions which will not be fair to the team."

Dravid indicated he considered quitting only towards the end of the ODI series in England. "I didn't want to take any decision there [in England] without first speaking to my family and wanted to give it a few days back home to see if I felt differently before taking a final call," he said. "This was the reason I couldn't tell even the players because it was a decision I did not want to take lightly or without being sure."

Dravid played down talk of him throwing in the towel ahead of sterner challenges ahead, including playing Pakistan at home and touring Australia. "Every series is tough in international cricket and we are playing constantly all the time. So it's not as if there is any break or period," he said. "There is no real right time for decision like this except for the fact that you must truly enjoy the job and be committed to it and know that you can give it your all.

"There is a shelf life to the captaincy in India in which you can give it your best. Maybe the shelf lives are becoming shorter as time goes by."

Dravid said the early exit from the World Cup in the West Indies and the loss in the final Test at Cape Town last January were the lows of his tenure while the Test series wins in West Indies and England were the high points.

He downplayed suggestions that the captaincy had affected his batting. "Like when I was a player I had some good series and some bad ones. And it was the same when I was the captain."