Duminy hails 'exemplary' conduct of Tendulkar

Indian batting star Sachin Tendulkar limits his private time to just "five or six friends", according to Mumbai Indians team-mate JP Duminy.

Writing in the Cape Times newspaper Friday, Duminy said the most valuable lesson he learnt from Tendulkar, his franchise captain, was how the man he described as the "Little Master" conducted himself off the field.

The South African left-hander, who justified a 950,000-dollar price tag by being the leading run-scorer for the Mumbai team, said the highlight of his first Indian Premier League stint was playing alongside legends like Tendulkar and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya.

Duminy wrote that he admired Tendulkar?s "exemplary" off-field record.

"I will cherish a conversation I had with him where he revealed that he only has about five or six friends, along with his close-knit family, who he spends his precious free time with.

"The fact that he can trust them 100 percent is very important to him and that is something I have really taken to heart."

Duminy said the IPL had been an exhilarating experience, but Mumbai lost too many games in failing to qualify for the semi-finals.

"We really tried our best, but in the end we needed to be on the right side of a few close matches. The entire team are very disappointed as we have built a big fan base in South Africa, let alone the millions in India.

"To let so many people down is a bad feeling."