A lot of things have changed since I made my debut in 2004. The way cricket is played has changed. The kind of players that are coming in the Indian team are drastically different than what we were used to. My role is quite the same. You only evolve with time, and that's what I am trying to do.
If you don't perform, and you're part of the team, whether you're playing your first Test or 50th Test match, criticism goes hand in hand, so that's something you can't really get away from. If you don't perform, you will be criticised.
I really don't care what people say; I found Srinivasan as someone who was always there to help cricketers.
I don't study cricket too much. Whatever I have learned or experienced is through cricket I've played on the field, and whatever little I have watched.
Since 2005, I have not spent much time with my family. In fact I have spent more time at the Taj Landsend in Mumbai. It was my 100th visit recently, which means I have spent more than 400 days in that hotel, and that is a lot more than I have spent with my family.
For me, fielding and running between the wickets are two things that are very important. For that, you need to motivate the guys about how much of an effect it will have on the game.
When you help sportspersons achieve their full potential, you propel the sporting quotient of the entire country.
I love my country. I tell my wife she is only the third most important thing after my country and my parents, in that order.
From when I was a young boy, I read books on weapons and tanks and combat. I was so interested in the army.
I am in the hands of Deori Maa. Every time I come to Ranchi, I visit her temple. I still remember my first visit.
When people talk about South Africa, it's all about lions and elephants. But when we talk about India, we talk about tigers.
The era of playing aggressive cricket and to have the mid-on up is gone. You now try to read the mindset of a batsman.
For me, it's important to build good partnerships rather than score centuries. Once, you have those partnerships, you will also get centuries.
Movies are a big part of our Indian culture.
One of my theories is to be captain on the field and off the field, you need to totally enjoy each other's company. I don't like discussing cricket off the field.
I used to play a lot of tennis-ball cricket.
Maybe because I bat aggressively and go for big hits at times, people tend to remember my batting. But I have always done well as a stumper, too.
I care most about how people live their lives, what choices they make, and how they get the best from themselves.
Cricketers have a very short shelf life. On an average, you make money through cricket for five years, but you need to survive for sixty years.
I am always the one who is responsible for anything bad that happens in Indian cricket. Everything that happens is because of me.
After the first ball is bowled, it's only chaos. What you are trying to do is you're trying to manage the chaos. It's not like a script that happens.
I'm a person who lives very in the moment.
I like to stay away from the game when I am not playing it.
If you're playing against an aggressive side, you need to play an aggressive game.
One thing about our country that is constant is cricket.
Winning the World Cup was very special because it meant so much to so many.
Let me tell you, it is an absolute lie that I told a probe panel that Meiyappan was only a cricket enthusiast. All I said is he had nothing to do with the team's on-field cricketing decisions. I can't even pronounce the word 'enthusiast.'
My dad and my brother were more keen on football, but I used to play canvas-ball cricket while at school in Ranchi, and we would have cricket coaching camps in the summer vacations. That's how I started.
When I'm at home, I love playing action-oriented computer games.
The cameras used to pass by me; now they're stopping for me.
Till the 10th standard, I was quite good - I got 66% that year. After my 10th, I got really involved with cricket, so I didn't have any time to study. And my parents didn't push me, either, which was very good for me.
We have to understand that the five-day format has its own uncertainties, unlike ODIs or T20s. In ODIs, you know that you have to field for 50 overs only, while in Test cricket, there may be a situation that a team might bat for one-and-a-half to two days.
A sporting track doesn't always mean that it will only have grass on it.
As a skipper, when you try to manipulate the field, you need to see the strengths of the fast bowlers.
I don't think I will ever make my all-time greatest India team. You cannot compare one era with another, as they will be different.
Whether a player has played one match or a hundred, we should give him respect for what he has achieved and leave it at that.
You need more individuals who can do more than one job in the field. Especially if all of them are good fielders and if they can contribute with bat and ball if needed. Just adds to the strength of the side.
Sometimes in T20, you need to bowl only one over, and once the captain has given you that one over, irrespective of whether it is good or bad, that one over is out of the equation. That actually helps you, that one over. By the time the batsman figures out what you are trying to do, you get rid of one over.
You can't take any team lightly.
One-day cricket is about aggression and flair, but Test cricket is a different ball game. One has to struggle through the hard periods initially and then look on to get a respectable score on the board.
In Test matches, you have to play consistent cricket for a period of time.
I don't believe in calling someone and having a big chat, because that puts a lot of added pressure on them. If somebody is doing something or involved in fielding practice, then a little chit-chat at that time helps because it's informal and doesn't add any pressure.
The reason why people love T20 is the sixes and fours.
What's more important is, rather than looking at it from a commercial point of view, what we have to make sure is, where there's existence of the sport, it keeps on increasing there, and at the same time, you look at some of the other countries where there's the prospect of playing cricket.
You have to see that cricket is developing as a sport because what's very important is you want cricket to be a global sport when it comes to participation.
You don't need to spoon-feed bowlers at the international level.
Even when you bowl a bad over, try to restrict it in between 15-18 runs, because if you go higher than that, it has a bigger impact on the game.
Nobody really wants to bowl a bad over, but if it happens, the individual is more disappointed than anyone else in the stadium or the team. Ideally, it is best to leave him to this thoughts and then have a chat with him after the team is back at the hotel when he will be less frustrated and more accepting.
If the batsman is playing good shots, you accept it, but it is important that we bowl according to what the plan is and not go off it.