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I have a gym at home where I do weight training as well as cardio. I love doing bench press but cannot share information on how much weight I lift. I also practise Yoga. My guru Sadhguru taught me different kriyas like Surya Namaskar, which I do for my personal well being.
I try to hit the ball along the ground, especially against fast bowlers. I also like the bat to come down in the right position and check if my body position is correct. If I'm really watching the ball carefully, then automatically I'm in a good position to hit it down the ground.
No doubt, if you go through records, Dhoni is India's best captain to date. Beating Sourav Ganguly, he won the Tests, ODIs, and T20s, won both the World Cups. Nobody can deny that, but to give credit to a single person is not good; others should also get credit for winning the Cups.
You don't think of these things when you play. When you retire, you look back and see that my Test average outside Asia is 40, and it is 49 overall. If I can change something, I'd like to change that average outside Asia. I tried as hard as I could outside Asia, but I couldn't do that.
When you start the game, coaches will tell you to do stuff in a particular way, and kids do that. But the moment you start first-class cricket, the coach needs to tell you, 'Try this, try that,' instead of, 'Do this, do that.' If you feel comfortable, you can take it; otherwise, leave it.
When I grew up, I tried to score off every ball, be it a 10-over-match, a 20-over, or even a Test match. If I stay in the wicket for, say, about 30 minutes, I want to make the most of it and score maximum runs possible. You never know when you get out; try to score as much possible before that.
When I began my life journey, we'd survive on Rs 500 a month as a family. As time passed and I started playing for the country, this Rs 500 multiplied manifold, but it was not the money that mattered: it was the fact that I was fulfilling my ambition of playing cricket on the highest platform, representing my country.
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.
I lose around a couple of crores every year on the school, but even if I was to make profit from it, I would never use it for myself. I'd plough every penny back into improving facilities for the school. Just as I do with the cricket academies I run around the country. These are not for making money; for that, I have other avenues.
When I faced the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee for the first time, I had a little bit of fear in my mind. My thoughts were, 'Would I be able to face them? Would I be able to play them? Would I be able to hit boundaries?' There were so many questions and fear, also, that if the ball didn't hit my bat, it might hit me on the body.
When I took up cricket seriously, I wanted to play for India. When my dream was achieved, I thought what next? Then a fellow cricketer told me, 'Playing for India is easy; playing for 10-15 years is difficult.' Then I changed my dream to play 100 Test matches. I achieved that as well. Now there is nothing to achieve, so I am just enjoying things.