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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.

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.

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.

One-day cricket is a very important part of our play. We've got a long way to go until the next World Cup and for us it's one ruthless game after another where we can play well.

When you are playing on the ground, you are a cricketer, but the moment you step off it, you are just another person. You need to talk to people nicely because you are who you are because of the people.

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.

People need to take as much interest in other sports as they take in cricket, and that's where we come across a vicious cycle of performance, sponsorship, recognition, jobs and TV visibility. It's a typical chicken-and-egg story; each one is directly related to the other without an answer for what comes first.

Indian cricketers need more exposure, and as cricket administrators, we need to beef up the domestic circuit. Only then will fresh talent come up.

I cannot think that I am a good cricketer and just become one. For this, one needs skill.