“I’m not a nerd, obviously. Do I look like one? I’m not someone who sits at home and doesn’t like to go out, doesn’t like to watch movies. I like to live my life.”

I’ve been lucky – all the ads I’ve got, I’ve got to be myself. I haven’t had to act too much or tried too hard to be someone I’m not. I think that’s why people sort of like them. Even the Fastrack ads I did with Genelia.

I love playing under pressure. In fact, if there’s no pressure, then I’m not in the perfect zone.

The joy of doing well as a batsman for your country is much more than that little joy of going for a party and enjoying music. It is a completely different high, and I get high by performances. That’s what I enjoy now.

As a kid, even I knew everything about my favourite cricketers. I used to know everything possible. Now I see kids knowing about me. It feels good.

My main focus is always to do well on the field for the Indian cricket team. When people say good things about me off the field, I am more than happy to accept them.

I am very happy playing and showing off my talent on the cricket field and have no plans to enter Bollywood.

Whatever you want to do, do with full passion and work really hard towards it. Don’t look anywhere else. There will be a few distractions, but if you can be true to yourself, you will be successful for sure.

I support Real Madrid. I’m a big fan of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pretension is a poor joke that you play on yourself. Snap out of it. Recognise your strengths, work on your weaknesses. Real achievement is liking what you see in the mirror every morning.

I wasn’t very good in academics, but I could have been if I could have studied well. I was a smart kid.

Becoming an inspiration for kids is great. I want to inspire them to do whatever they want to.

No cricket team in the world depends on one or two players. The team always plays to win.

I’ve had a fan who made a painting of my face with her fingers. I have put it up in my room. It was sweet and very different.

Probably because I’m from a middle class family, I have that nature in me that I don’t get too excited with big things.

One of us wins, all of us win. Am I right?

I do believe in God. But you won’t find me visiting temples every now and then. I believe in self-realization. Peace of mind matters a lot to me. What’s the point in doing something just for the sake of it? I’d rather do something I like doing as long as I’m being true to myself.

You should never tell someone they have a nice dimple, because maybe they were shot in the face with a BB gun.

You don’t have to have a thigh gap to be beautiful. It is possible to love your body the way it is.

We should not look at terrorism from the nameplates – ­which group they belong to, what is their geographical location, who are the victims. These individual groups or names will keep changing.

I don’t like workouts that make you bulky.

Three hundred years after its appearance Christianity was the recognized state religion in the Roman World Empire, and in barely sixty years socialism has won itself a position which makes its victory absolutely certain.

The Colchians, Ethiopians and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin.

Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of the nation.

Those who look for seashells will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls.