Quotes About Cricket

If I am playing 18 ball, I aim to see how I can get my strike rate to 150-160. After 6-14 overs, you need to break down, that if you play half balls, then how much runs you need to get on the board.

When I was growing up, I played a lot of ten- and 12-over games, and I would bat in the middle order. I got only ten-odd balls to face, and I tried to score as much as I could. I applied the same approach in domestic and international cricket, and people were appreciating my strike rate being more than 80 or 90 in Test cricket.

Obviously, when I go in at No. 11 it stands to reason that we will have a better chance of scoring runs or batting out time if the batsman at the other end takes most of the strike. That's because, as my place in the order suggests, he is a better batsman than me.

I don't need to be going out reverse-sweeping for six and four straightaway. Singles can be just as important as boundaries, rotating the strike and not letting the bowlers settle.

When you sit down and focus on the matches and series that took place during the 12 month period it strikes you just how broad the talent pool is in international cricket is today.

I was fortunate enough to interact with him when I played for RCB in IPL. I learnt from AB as to how he prepares for a game. I get amazed by the kind of strokes he hits and the time he has got to play those shots.

I don't like to follow someone, but I really like A B de Villiers as a batsman. I think he has got all the strokes and plays according to the situation.

I would love to do a biopic on a bowler like Zaheer Khan or Harbhajan Singh. I would love to see their struggles on screen.

I believe my actual job is that of a mentor. I don't just talk about bowling. I discuss batting, I discuss fielding, I discuss team selection, talking to every boy individually on and off the field, giving them confidence and if they are struggling with their cricket, talking to them about their cricket.

Test cricket is about respecting the opposition, the conditions and the circumstances.

You try to make sure you have respect for the opposition but still play to win and play hard cricket.

Cricket has always been about using street smarts and putting the opposition under pressure, on the field and off it.

There are parts of the game you always miss. I have missed the competitive spirit, competing against the opposition. But I have really enjoyed time away from cricket.

If you are the top bowler in your team, you need to get the top batsman in the opposition. So it is expected and people just highlight that particular bit and make it sound like it is gamesmanship.

In 50over cricket there are different ways of playing. It's not all about smacking it over the top. It's important someone bats through the innings. That would be one of the options for me.

One good thing about Indian cricket is that we have options. Most of the international teams don't have bowling options left after retirement, but we have everything right now.

I had to stop being a student idiot and become more sensible and organised and that definitely improved my batting. I also reacted far more quickly to situations in Test cricket because I'd been a county captain. It made a huge difference.

Tillakaratne Dilshan is innovative and scores quickly, while Upul Tharanga is neat and well organised - and left handed.

Try and understand: cricket was played by Commonwealth countries only; now it has started in other countries as well, and I am proud of that.

I think the only time I show my emotions and anger is on the cricket field; otherwise, I've mellowed down. And with age, I think, with age you always end up mellowing down.

I've always played sport. I played rugby, I was involved in athletics, I played cricket... I'm an outdoors kind of guy.

As soon as you come into the England team, the ICC get hold of you; you're put through this video, which is very watchable, very clear - it takes you back to when you were five or six, that's how clear it is. It outlines everything you're not allowed to do, everything you are allowed to do.

Everyone knows I've got a pretty passionate outlook on my cricket - and sometimes it does get the better of me.

My outlook is that when you're under pressure then that is when you play your best cricket. You've got no choice but to perform to keep your place and I find that brings out the best in me.