I am what I am. I have not deliberately built an image for myself.
Cricket is just something that I am good at, just like various people are good at various things. What’s lucky is that cricket gets enormous publicity.
I am not the only intense or intellectual cricketer. I played with other cricketers who could be pretty intense and intellectual.
Playing in the same team as Sachin is a huge honour. His balance of mind, shrewd judgment, modesty and, above all, his technical brilliance make him my all-time hero. You can’t get a more complete cricketer than Sachin. He has everything that a cricketer needs to have.
I have the kind of personality that I always look ahead than look at what’s happened. It does help a lot, especially when you’ve done badly or you’ve failed. It’s instinctive of me that I look at what’s next, I look ahead a lot, and start preparing for that, in victory and in defeat.
There is an element of mystique to radio, and I often listen to cricket commentary on radio, especially when one is stuck in a traffic jam.
I was given a talent to play cricket. I don’t know why I was given it. But I was. I owe it to all those who wish it had been them to give of my best, every day.
I was in the hockey team in school, played football. One of the challenges for me was to make the team feel better. It helped me evolve, so batting at different positions was never a problem.
On the onside, first there is God, then Sourav Ganguly.
You get an image in the first couple of years of your career, and then whether you like it or not, you are stuck with it for the rest of your life.
There are so many fans and so many people who care deeply about this game, and it is because of these fans that we are who we are as cricketers.
A career in sport is almost impossible to manage without the support, and guidance, and reassurance of family and friends. During tough times, and there always are, this is whom we go to.
In a cricket career, your life is in some ways controlled for you. You have no control over schedules, you have no control about where you want to play, you don’t have control over that as a cricketer.
I think credibility, irrespective of what you do, if you are in public life, then it is important.
Reading allows me to recharge my batteries.
While I played Ranji Trophy for five years, I used to be asked, ‘When are you playing for the nation?’ – a question which I didn’t have any answer to. I kept playing before I got my first break in 1996; those five years were indeed frustrating.
What drew me towards team sport were the camaraderie and friendship. The chance to celebrate victory and success with a group of other people is something I have enjoyed doing.
Sometimes fitness is a good thing to have, but you have to recognise that fitness takes you only so far, and skills are the most important thing. Fitness just helps you execute those cricketing skills for longer and more consistently, maybe.
If someone thinks, ‘I’ll spend the off season working on my fitness and I’ll come back a better cricketer,’ I don’t think that’s enough. You need to spend a lot of time working on your skills and honing your skills.
Sachin Tendulkar is already a ‘Bharat Ratna’ for Indian people because of his phenomenal success and the manner in which he has served Indian cricket for years.
I was telling people if every time I answered a question about Multan I got a rupee, I would be a multimillionaire by now.