Dhaka: South Africa's former captain Shaun Pollock on Tuesday said the comments of fellow players had been blown out of proportion during this year's World Cup. "I thought things were not said the way they were made out to be," said Pollock, who lost his captaincy after South Africa bowed out at the first stage of the 14-nation tournament.

Opener Herschelle Gibbs had praised Hansie Cronje's captaincy at the beginning of the mega event while Jonty Rhodes and Allan Donald had dedicated their World Cup campaign to the late captain. "I don't think they said I was not a good captain. Even I have great respect for Cronje but the timing of those comments were unfortunate," said Pollock, here for a three-nation tournament also featuring India and Bangladesh.

The 29-year-old all-rounder, who has been replaced by 22- year-old Graeme Smith, said he was proud of his captaincy record. "I had a good captaincy record and am among the top ten in both Tests and One-dayers according to my success rate. I achieved certain results and players like Makhaya Ntini and Herschelle Gibbs have done better under me."

Pollock, who took over as skipper in April 2000 following Cronje's implication in match-fixing charges, said he did not agree with the view that he was too good a person to bring out the best in his players. "Some say I was too good a person, some say I was too hard. Some feel I was very vocal about what I did not like. It is all a matter of opinion and how you judge it."

Pollock said he was getting reconciled to the idea of being just another player in the team rather than being their leader. "It takes time to adjust because you are used to marching the troops around and then suddenly realise you have to more or less stick to your fielding position.