“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.”

If you don’t ask for the best, you don’t get it.

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.

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.

You don’t play for revenge, you play for respect & pride.

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.

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.

No dream is ever chased alone.

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 am what I am. I have not deliberately built an image for myself.

I was like every other boy in India, with a dream of playing for my country. Yet I could never have imagined a journey so long and so fulfilling. No dream is ever chased alone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I leave with sadness, but also with pride.

Comics know that they do best. They might not be best to rewrite to another person’s comedy, but they know what is best for them. Luckily,

So I suppose the answer is I see myself in all my characters, in their best moments and in their worst.

On my best day, I am a seven-point-seven. I could be a hard eight if I felt great. If I went on a good run and had on my best pair of jeans, I could feel right on the money.

I am not one of those translators who think that working closely with the writer will yield the best translation.

Every writer I had ever known wrote his best work when he had his back up against the wall and thought he would never write another word.

The blankness invites scribbling on, mental drawing , and the best feeling I know – apart from the more obvious sensual ones – is the feeling of putting down the first thought and seeing it turn into symbols.

Thinking that what you want equals what’s best for you is a dead end.

The best way to be loved, is to love yourself.