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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.

Apart from being celebrities, there's a huge amount of respect associated with being cricketers and a certain amount of reverence and honour associated with representing India. In people's eyes, apart from other celebrities in India, I think for sportsmen in India there's a certain amount of regard.

Indian cricket fans are manic-depressive in their treatment of their favorite teams. They elevate players to god-like status when their team performs well, ignoring obvious weaknesses; but when it loses, as any team must, the fall is equally steep, and every weakness is dissected.

Certain cricketers are meant to play Test cricket.

Nothing extraordinary happens to a cricketer if you time his career - which is very short.

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.

For its health, cricket needs to look outward to the sharpest minds, to people who sustain and nurture brands and often take hard but necessary decisions. Cricket cannot be bound by cricketing minds alone.

Whatever good or bad is said by former cricketers is considered gospel. Our media should not blow out of proportion the opinion of former cricketers.

When you're successful, there will be friends, people, VIPs rallying around you. When you're down and out, you're all alone. That's why it's important to be a good person. Because whether you're a successful cricketer or not can always change, but the respect you earn by being the person you are stays with you.

It's a hard life as a professional cricketer. It's not as easy as everyone makes out. To survive you need a tough hide.