Ravi Shastri

It is the cynicism that kills all the joy. I'm not that kind of a guy. I look at the glass half-full.

Sometimes wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good.

In a side when you have 15 players there will always be times when there will be opinions that will be different. That is what is needed.

When you are playing a Test match, you would like to be playing with your strongest side.

When you are watching a cricket match, and a side is 140 for 5 and another 100 plus to get in trying conditions and when you get that without losing a wicket, not only is that entertainment, it shows all the qualities a sportsperson should have to reach the top level.

As a child I played cricket as a hobby. Once you started playing for your school, you became more ambitious. You reckoned you could play for the state. Then you started to think about the country. But it happened so quickly for me, I started playing for the school at 13, for Bombay at 17, and at 18 I was in the Indian side.

A few good words don't just make your day but they also give the sense of belonging and confidence to take the next big step forward.

The beauty of Test cricket is all about playing an opponent in their backyard or defending home turf under challenging conditions over five days - dominating each session, dominating each day, picking 20 wickets to win a contest. That's historically been cricket's most fascinating gift.

Opening for the first time in Test cricket, I scored 128 against the likes of Sarfraz Nawaz and Imran Khan.

I have little patience or time for nonsense that's spread around.

It's not that every time India play they will have their best team on the park because there are bound to be injuries and other factors.

My batting took some time to develop - I was batting at No. 10 initially but my bowling took off.