When I was growing up, we would play a 10-over or 15-over game, and the asking-rate would always be high, and I would end up scoring 30 or 40 runs in 15 balls, so I built that mindset right from the beginning and still continue to bat in the same manner.

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.

During the peak of my career, I used to pick the ball as soon it was released from the bowler's hands. And I hit the ball through the line.

April 2nd is a memorable moment of my cricketing career.

I have proudly spent several periods in government, but I'm not a career politician. I come from a family of 'citizen soldiers.'

I come from a big Irish family who force-fed me as a kid, so not eating was never an option.

My mother is a German who was brought up in the U.K. So, there is so much cross-cultural exposure I had as a child. But Mumbai is my city.

There were never any doctors in my family. But my grandparents and my mother had a strong social conscience that was formative.