I get 0.5 seconds to react to a ball, sometimes even less than that. I can't be thinking of what XYZ has said about me. I need to surrender myself to my natural instincts. My subconscious mind knows exactly what to do. It is trained to react. At home, my family doesn't discuss media coverage.

Sometimes I need to look at the scoreboard to figure out whether I'm batting hundred-plus or whether I am on zero.

I have never thought where I will go, or forced any targets on myself.

I hate losing and cricket being my first love, once I enter the ground it's a different zone altogether and that hunger for winning is always there.

I never played with a runner in my entire life, even in schools, because only I know where the ball is going and how hard, when I hit the ball, something my runner will never know about.

At least with me, the match starts much, much earlier than the actual match.

It’s hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it’s all I have ever done since I was 11 years old.