I have played for 15 years and it has been a dream.
It’s important to work hard – there’s no short cut around that.
When I walk into bat, I should know that ‘Yes, I’ve prepared to the best of my ability. I couldn’t have done anything better.’ That is when I feel that I am ready to go out and play.
To me, pre-match preparation is extremely important because that’s something which is within my control.
I’m confident and I trust my instincts.
I fail sometimes, I succeed sometimes, so that’s fair enough. It’s a package deal. It comes with that package: failures and success.
It’s about not accepting every challenge thrown at you. Sometimes you hold back and when it’s needed you go for it.
Obviously after such a long gap, one itches to get back to the game and score big runs.
New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori is a very good bowler.
My point of view is that when I am playing cricket I cannot think that this game is less or more important.
If you remain humble, people will give you love and respect even after you have finished with the game. As a parent, I would be happier hearing people say, “Sachin is a good human being” than “Sachin is a great cricketer” any day.
Son, life is like a book. It has numerous chapters. It also has many a lesson in it. It is made up of a wide variety of experiences and resembles a pendulum where success and failure, joy and sorrow are merely extremes of the central reality. The lessons to be learnt from success and failure are equally important. More often than not, failure and sorrow are bigger teachers than success and happiness.
The key to handling pressure situations like these is to keep yourself steady, follow your instincts and think clearly.
Enjoy the game, chase your dreams because dreams do come true.
Presence’ is actually very important in international sport. It is one thing just being there in the middle, but it is another making people aware of your ‘presence’. It is about body language and radiating confidence, something that the West Indian batting legend Viv Richards would personify.
I was part of a band of eleven fortunate men who had been given the duty of representing close to a billion Indians. It was an honour every aspiring cricketer lives for, to play for his country against the best of world cricket. And with the honour came responsibility. I was going to be accountable to the cricket fans back home and was expected to give my best for them.
If you remain humble, people will give you love and respect even after you have finished with the game.
A champion team needs only a small window of opportunity to stage a fightback, something I had learnt over the years.
Everyone at home was very supportive, but my father always said that all he wanted me to do was give it my best effort without worrying about the results.
When trying to save a match, the important thing is to set small targets. These can be as little as batting the next five overs, or the next hour, or even a session. If a wicket doesn’t fall for close to a session, the opposition, however much they are in control, are bound to feel pressure. Time was gradually running out for England and restlessness was creeping in.