“I think credibility, irrespective of what you do, if you are in public life, then it is important.”

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.

Reading allows me to recharge my batteries.

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.

Don’t ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it.

It doesn’t bother me at all. Do I hold any hard feelings? Not at all, Life is too short to sit around and hold grudges.

Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.

Playing sports teaches a lot about life & shapes our personalities positively.

The greatest lesson of life is that you are responsible for your life.

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.

Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.

When you’ve lived as long as I have, nothing much surprises you.