I have told the PCB that I want total independence to work with a free mind and pick the best players, and they have assured me it will be done.Collection: Independence
I think fitness and performance levels are the right indicators to determine if it's the time to leave the scene.Collection: Fitness
I control my anger.Collection: Anger
I remember, before the 2003 World Cup, I worked extremely hard on my fitness. A great deal of training and dietary discipline. I believe I lost 19 kg. And 19 is the number of runs I scored in the entire tournament.Collection: Fitness
Cricket is a team game. No individual can just say he can win it on his own.
I can't leave cricket. It is my passion.
I have one regret that whenever I look at the list of world's leading scorers, I don't see any Pakistani who has scored 10,000 Test runs; even I couldn't do it ,nor Muhammad Yousuf.
Every team goes through a lean patch.
Imran never lost faith in us as players, individually and as a team, and that gave us the confidence to win. He was a leader par excellence, and Pakistan have seen none like him.
The pressure of an India-Pakistan game is immense.
Being chief selector has been the most challenging role of my cricket career, as I was heavily criticised for my decisions, and I couldn't respond much.
As chief selector, I did my best to pick new talent and give them proper opportunities, as they are the future of Pakistan cricket.
It is not my domain to speak on pitches, but they play an important role in producing quality players in every format.
Once you start feeling the pressure, you start to struggle. That is the beauty of Indo-Pak cricket contests.
A tour to India is different from other tours. The expectations to win are very high from our own people, and defeats and poor performances are not forgotten easily.
Regardless of where we play, we should play India on regular basis.
Throughout my career, we beat India in many matches, but for some reason, we never managed to get the better of them in World Cup matches, and it remains a disappointment for me.
The pressures of playing in the World Cup are different, but it was because we coped with them in 1992 under Imran Khan's guidance and influence that we won the Cup.
I don't have a magic wand, and there is a lot we need to do right in Pakistan cricket to build a strong team.
I want to develop an atmosphere where the selectors, captain, and coach are on the same page because, unless this happens, there will be no turnaround in our cricket.
In the past, when we toured countries like Australia or South Africa, we struggled, but we also got to learn a lot, and we learnt to cope with pressure.
I think there is no better way for our players to improve and learn to perform under pressure than playing regularly with India.
It's up to the individual to decide when he wants to quit.
As a player, you have to assess how fit you are and look at your performance graph - how long you are delivering. Take Imran Khan's case: he played till 39.
What I intend to do is to launch a batting academy. I have been a batsman throughout my life, and I can't open a bowling academy after all!
I am happy and satisfied at the end of my career, but not much. Yes, I would have loved to leave the stage in a better way.
I wanted to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. But I could not.
When I look back and think about it, I feel my career was fairly good but, certainly, not tremendous.
Critics tend to praise as well as crucify you.
Even a good batsman requires a year or so in test cricket to settle down and play long innings.
Once you reach the knockout stage of a World Cup, the team that holds its nerves wins.
How well a team executes its plans is important, but I think keeping nerves under pressure is far more important in the knockout stage.
I have had a fulfilling career for Pakistan, although our poor performance in the 2007 World Cup would remain the lowest point of my career.
Frankly speaking, the pleasure and satisfaction you get after performing against India you don't get against any team, and if you ask the Indian players, they would have similar sentiments.
The thing that forced me to think about my retirement was that I had played my cricket with honour and distinction, and I did not want to put myself in a position where I was considered a liability or unwanted by the selectors.
If someone drops a catch, and I get angry, will that catch come back to us? It won't. Therefore, it is better to be cool, because that helps in better performance.
When you have confidence, the atmosphere in the dressing room also improves.
If people remember me as one who contributed to Pakistan's cricket, I will feel good. If people say good things, it makes me feel happy.
Any team can't give top performance all year round.
I am a great admirer of Yuvraj and Kaif. They have generally been able to pick up the scoring when they come to bat at numbers six and seven. They also are livewires in the field.
I'm ready to accept the pressures of captaincy.
We can't take such unfair criticism. It would be difficult for me to continue as captain if this unhealthy trend of demoralising the team after a few bad performances continues.
I am not a big supporter of sledging or insults that are hurled at you. But I don't mind if a bowler glares or stares at the batsmen. During my career, I have faced these situations numerous times.
Off the field, both India and Pakistan enjoy a healthy relationship, and that's the way it should be - friends off the field and fierce competitors on it.
Even after defeating India, I still have the highest respect for them as opponents.
In 2004, we were in a rebuilding phase after the disastrous 2003 World Cup campaign, and the batsmen, in particular, did not know where they would bat or what was their role. For example, in the one-dayers, we were playing Shahid Afridi on top of the order, but we didn't consider him for the Tests.
I have never forced anyone to offer prayers in the team or to keep a beard.
I've never linked team selection to offering prayers, and reports suggesting otherwise are all wrong.
If someone says to me, 'You are a cheat, and Pakistan is doing wrong things,' my first priority is to my country.
It is imperative that Afghanistan cricket does well. You cannot imagine how passionate Afghanistan's fans are and how they live and die by every result.