I am like the huge percentage of Indians who follow majorly cricket when it comes to sports.
I want to thank all my team-mates as well as the opponents in red ball cricket. It has been a privilege to play with and against them.
In my heart, international cricket is the way forward. That’s where you want to play; that’s where the pressure really lies. That’s where you make your name.
I really enjoyed the period in which I played my cricket. I can look back now and wish I started 10 years later and played in the T20s. But I also wish I was born 10 years earlier so that I could have been part of the all-conquering West Indies team of that time.
It is nothing new for the management of an international cricket team to wrestle with the amount of freedom afforded to players.
I know when I’ve been playing a lot of golf it takes me a while to get back into cricket again. It’s not so much the different shape of the swings, more the fact that you are stationary when you hit a golf ball. In cricket you have to move forward or back, which is an instinctive timing thing.
I’ve been lucky, my wife’s been amazing. Any time we’ve had cricket matches she sends me to the spare room to get some sleep. She takes care of everything.
For Pakistan cricket to stay relevant and strong, the best players have to be available all the time – it’s a challenge faced by everyone, but one that particularly relates to us because of our mainly amateur, pretty random, and certainly too thinly spread domestic structure that feeds the national team.
India should not have any ties with Pakistan, be it Bollywood or cricket. I am shocked that Bollywood is saying that cricket and movies should be kept ahead of national sentiments.
While I am most at home in London, I cannot really label myself as either British or Trinidadian. I write in the English language and live in the U.K. I find it hard to say that I am an entirely British writer, especially when I supported Trinidad in the 2006 World Cup and also support the West Indies cricket team.
I never thought of starting a cricket academy because every second person is starting a cricket academy.
Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First, the curious case of Gambhir. Oh, poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records, just a lot of attitude.
I have bowled with another leg-spinner in county cricket – Shahid Afridi. But he is a totally different bowler than Mishra. I have a lot of respect for Mishra.
Cricket is 90-95 per cent mental. To score runs, you’ve got to feel good about yourself.
To have healthy competitions among players for places in the team is good for Indian cricket and the game in general.
When you’re managing a team the key is, I guess, to find where those boundaries are, where you’re prepared to let people go, to what extent you’re allowing them to be a free spirit because ultimately it’s all got to be in the greater cause which is making sure the team wins cricket games.
I think ‘A’ sides are extremely important, as close as you can get to international cricket. You are often playing against internationals from different countries and it definitely bridges the gap between our domestic game and international cricket.
Finishing is one of the most difficult things to do in cricket. A player can’t be a finisher in just 6 months or one year. You have to be used to that responsibility, keeping on doing what is required from you over a period of time.
Of course, there are ups and downs in cricket always, but that’s how you learn. I am too young, and what I constantly do is learn from my seniors. They have been in tough situations, and they know how to tackle them. I just keep learning.
My dad’s method in his madness was to try every sport and then observe what I liked. I played football, tennis, golf, cricket but I loved my snooker.
Playing Test cricket for one’s country is the ultimate, but people are enjoying Twenty20 format because everything will be over within three hours.
I usually don’t get much free time. Cricket keeps me busy, and I like it that way.
England is leading the way in women’s cricket.
I have said goodbye to international cricket.
I was cycling until I was 68. I used to play football, cricket, tennis, table tennis. I was into road walking – heel and toe.
There is no reason why one should believe you should leave out politicians in cricket or any sport for that matter. There are ways and means in which government can assist in the management and development of players.
I have always loved cinema more than the cricket. I don’t think there is any harm in taking a different field.
I was not a political animal; I could not toady up to the committee men, pour drinks down their necks at the bar, and make them feel important. I was too focused on the cricket.
I’ve always played sport. I played rugby, I was involved in athletics, I played cricket… I’m an outdoors kind of guy.
I have stopped having goals. If you have many goals, and you don’t reach your goals, it is very upsetting, so I just think of keeping it simple, working hard and going and playing the game. But I know there are going to be very important series for Indian cricket. I will just try my best to be in my fittest form.
If there can be films about why hockey (and not just cricket) is cool, there can be a film or two about the virtues of honest, hard work.
I’m most proud of a couple of things. Firstly what we managed to do with the team from 2009 to get them to win the Ashes in Australia. That was remarkable. And secondly moving England forward in white-ball cricket because that is where the game is going and we need to be at the vanguard.
I have never played cricket for selfish reasons like scoring 800-900 runs on flat tracks to make a comeback.
I lost my parents without them seeing me play international cricket.
We learnt a lot from county cricket – even if we did not earn stacks of money from it.
I think a captain is someone who captains on the cricket field but, most of the leadership that happens is off the cricket field. It’s very easy to captain people on the cricket field, but if you can start leading them off the cricket field, and show them that trust, what you have in them.
My relationship with Virat is not dictated by political situation. Virat is a fantastic human being and an ambassador of cricket for his country, just like I am for my country.
When Pakistan beat England at cricket, my Pakistani cousins remind me how English and British I am. When they say, ‘You’re one of the Queen’s advisers,’ for them it’s, ‘Wow – anything’s possible in the U.K.’
As cricketers we’re judged on the average we have from being a 21-year-old who’s just come into international cricket to the day you retire.
That happens on a cricket field. People have a go at each other. That’s fair, that’s fine. It’s called Test cricket. It’s not a day in the park.
I’ve played cricket seriously since I was eight years old, when I first played for the Essex under-11s. I can’t just turn it off.
In T20, there’s a time shortage because you’ve got four overs. In one-day cricket, you relax, and the game goes long, and you only win the game in the last 10 or 15 overs.
I think, in international cricket, your management is about motivating players.
You don’t come to a cricket ground to draw a cricket match.
You need to protect the best players in the country. When there is so much cricket, we must work on ways to prolong their careers.
I’ve been to a lot of places to play cricket, but cricket and training get in the way! In India, all you see is the hotel and the cricket ground.
In international cricket, the atmosphere changes, and the interest level is higher, but for a cricketer, it is still a game he has to play.
You need different skills to do well in 50-overs cricket. You need completely different skills to do well in Test cricket. You need different skills to do well in T20 cricket. It is not the same.
I’m a big sports fan. Football. Cricket.
This whole quest to win the 2019 World Cup, that was my job when I was director of England cricket.
In sport, there is always room for improvement. Whenever I see my innings against the West Indies or Australia, I think, ‘Maybe, I could have done this better or should have changed that.’ See, cricket is a skill game, and one can always improve upon the impact one has on an innings.
Cricket can produce some amazing feelings on the field and I have been lucky enough to experience a few along the way.
I don’t think cricket is a game that people who have never played or been involved in understand the excitement. It’s a game that is full of excitement, because cricket lovers follow the game and understand the basic principles and rules. They become connoisseurs of the game.
Cricket pays well, so a lot of people are naturally drawn towards the game. But to carve a niche in non-cricket sports is not easy. So state governments need to be proactive. Indians need to be made aware of the power of an Olympic medal. It should be treated at par with an Oscars or a Nobel Prize.
An all-rounder in Tests and limited-overs’ cricket is equally important.
I totally enjoyed playing in Australia. I think they play very tough cricket, and the brand of cricket they play is very strong.
