I was in the hockey team in school, played football. One of the challenges for me was to make the team feel better. It helped me evolve, so batting at different positions was never a problem.

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.

My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity and it was about upholding the spirit of the game. I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride.

Cricket is just something that I am good at, just like various people are good at various things. What's lucky is that cricket gets enormous publicity.

You get an image in the first couple of years of your career, and then whether you like it or not, you are stuck with it for the rest of your life.

I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying.

Even if my grandchildren don’t remember the fact that I scored 10,000 runs in Test and ODI cricket, I am confident that they will remember that Sachin Tendulkar used to be my team-mate.