Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Whenever I have time, I do my fitness. I go running on my own on Sundays or on Eid. I'd rather gym every day than go watch movies.
You just need to go into matches with a clear plan in T20 cricket. If you go half-half, it's going to be really hard to come back.
I've been playing cricket for quite a long time all over the world, and all the situations I have been in have given me confidence.
I try not to miss my prayers and the 30 fasts in Ramazan, but even if I do miss them due to my cricket, I make up for them later on.
I can't see myself playing anywhere else in the world. You don't know how much I want to play international cricket for South Africa.
I don't think it is difficult to balance professional sports with practising your faith. It is very easy if you follow the right path.
One needs to have variations. You won't survive if you don't have one - especially playing in India, as they are good players of spin.
The off spinner's job is to contain; for me, leg spinners need to have a bigger heart than anyone else because it is easy to blame them.
I love to talk about bowling, and whoever comes for hel,p I'm always there. Even in IPL, PSL, I try to help the youngsters as much as I can.
If you go for wickets all the time, then you will go for runs as well because you will have to flight the ball and invite the batsmen to hit you.
For me, what is important is, as a legspinner, you need determination, especially in modern-day cricket. You need to feel that you can change a game.
My biggest ambition, ever since I was a boy in Pakistan, has been to play cricket at the highest level. If I can do so for South Africa, I'll give everything.
You have to just adjust to the conditions quickly because there is a big difference in 50-over and 20-over cricket, and if you back yourself, you will do well.
I have bowled with another leg-spinner in county cricket - Shahid Afridi. But he is a totally different bowler than Mishra. I have a lot of respect for Mishra.
I love to help kids, especially spinners, in South Africa. You won't see many guys bowling legspin, so I want to try to see if I can develop another Imran Tahir.
I really can't pinpoint why I celebrate the way I do. I just love it when I pick a wicket, and it comes naturally to me to express my joy in the manner that I do.
According to me, a leg-spinner is such a character who, on his day, can win the match for you if he is bowling well and has the support of the captain and the coach.
All I do is work hard. Try and work on my bowling and keep improving every day. That's the key to success at the international level and in tournaments like the IPL.
In T20, there's a time shortage because you've got four overs. In one-day cricket, you relax, and the game goes long, and you only win the game in the last 10 or 15 overs.
Moving to South Africa and trying to make a mark as a cricketer and then make it to the international team hasn't been easy. This is why I want to enjoy every moment of it.
The googly and the slider are my favourite type of deliveries, and I love it when batsmen try to cut or sweep me and, while attempting those strokes, get lbw or clean bowled.
I am the kind of person who will give his best every single time. I cannot underperform unless I'm playing with kids. Actually, I'd probably still get angry if they try to hit me!
In T20, batsmen are always going after you, so a good policy is to bowl five-six dot balls in your first two-three overs so that pressure builds on the batsman, and he plays riskier shots.
I don't want to just keep playing for the sake of playing. The day I realise I'm not good enough, I'll go. I want to play as long as I can - not just to make up the numbers but to play with utmost passion.
I always dreamt that, but I never thought I will be here one day playing my 100th game for South Africa. It's an absolute honour and privilege, being given the opportunity by the lovely people from South Africa.
If you look at me outside the cricket ground, I am a simple, normal guy, like everyone else. But on the field, that passion flows because I have been through a lot of tough times and have lost many special people.
The start of the English county season - from April to mid-May when it's cold - is the same as South Africa because it seams and swings. After that, the ball starts spinning nicely, and that's when I get my wickets.
Playing with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, I am a very lucky guy. Not many people are going to attack those two, which means the batsmen will attack me. And if they attack me, there is always a chance I can get a wicket.
In 2004 in England, there was one catch that was very special to me. I was bowling in a league match, and the batsman hit the ball over my head. I had to run back to between mid-off and mid-on to take the catch, and I did.
I think I feel good as a South African player that people say that we always get into semifinal and lose... this is one of the biggest achievements to get into semifinal. Not many teams do that. For me, it's a real achievement.
I have been bowling at the death sometimes. You need to focus. You know if you miss your target, you will go for a boundary, but it's also good because it makes you a really good bowler. You practise hard, and you try to bowl in one area most of the time.
People think of me as well-travelled, but I had not been out of Pakistan until I was picked in the Under-19 squad in 1997. The flight went from Lahore to Karachi and then from Karachi to South Africa. It was my first time on a plane and my first trip overseas.
Abdul Qadir was my main role model. I just wanted to be like him because, for me, he was only guy who no one could read. He was that good. His passion, his love for legspin, was unique. He would create new things all the time: flippers, sliders, three to four kinds of googlies, legspinners, topspinners.