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When I was made captain, one of my things was that whatever happens in those four years, you don't want to make major changes just before a World Cup. We'd done it before, and it never worked.
Throughout my career, in cricket and beyond, I've been incredibly lucky with my marriage. I met Rachael in 2002, and that was the year my England career kicked on. Everything started to click.
Yes, I'm the same grumpy Gautam who smiles very less on the field. I go very quiet before going into the match. I guess it works for me, though my team-mates keep telling me it is just a game.
I've slept with a couple of people and made some poor choices and put things in jeopardy with... what I was happy with, and that's my own fault. I've got no one else to blame about that stuff.
The first thing I look forward to when I am in Delhi is to spend some time with my family. It's always lovely coming back here and playing in front of my own people. It's just a special place.
A lot of the lads have a bat for the nets, a bat for facing the bowling machine and a separate bat for the match. I'll just crack on with a bat until it breaks - then crack on with another one.
Sourav has done an excellent job of balancing his captaincy with his personal game. He looks like he is enjoying being captain. And effectively, he has lightened the burden on Sachin Tendulkar.
I think you get some attention and some hype from the marijuana affiliation but I think also there's obviously problems still. My mother is not very excited about it. Understandably, I suppose.
In the 1950s, when we went to Lord's, you had to sit down, and it was very prim and proper. It was only in the 1960s when we started to do well that West Indians started voicing their opinions.
Experience tells us that few matches are won on the back of one or two good sessions of play. To win a Test match most teams have to win and outplay the opposition for extended periods of time.
My only complaint with 'Dickie' Bird is that he requires a degree of certainty that is almost neurotic; like the man who has to keep going to the front door to make certain that he's locked it.
As far as I am concerned, I have never seen any Indian batsman perform better than Virat on Australian soil keeping Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman in mind as they have done exceptionally well.
I would love to be a coach, mentor, or a batting consultant. I would love to commentate in Hindi, as most people who watch the game are more comfortable with Hindi in India rather than English.
To have some idea what it's like, stand in the outside lane of a motorway, get your mate to drive his car at you at 95 mph and wait until he's 12 yards away, before you decide which way to jump.
The fear of failing... not quite the fear of failing, but the uncertainty of whether you are going to perform or not, is there every single game I have played in my life. It will always be there.
The only thing I'd say about Darrell Hair is that he is a very good umpire. He's very firm and he obviously sticks to his guns. I wouldn't have any qualms about him coming back into Test cricket.
You can't compartmentalise everything but the more you do that the easier it is. Keeping a notebook is a good way of dealing with it. You can rest from any thoughts if you put them down on paper.
In the early days, when I first got into the WI team, when the Ws were playing, I would sit and watch. When you could learn from watching players like that, it was a great joy to watch them play.
You need different skills to do well in 50-overs cricket. You need completely different skills to do well in Test cricket. You need different skills to do well in T20 cricket. It is not the same.
Guys only really have watches and cars as show pieces, and that's why so many men love their watches - it's our show piece, it's our style. And what I like especially about Hublot is the variety.
I am not someone like A. B. de Villiers, Gayle, or Dhoni. I don't have that much power. I have to use my brain to manipulate the field and stick to my strength, which is to hit through the lines.
I've slept with a couple of people and made some poor choices and put things in jeopardy with [...] what I was happy with, and that's my own fault. I've got no one else to blame about that stuff.
The problem is there's still a big kid inside me who likes to have fun. I am passionate about my cricket and I love my family, but I'm also a kid and maybe I need to grow up... And maybe I don't.
There were a lot of players who gave me suggestions when I was young. At times, they were very good suggestions, and I took them seriously, applied them to my batting, and got success after that.
We all live in this little bubble that we just expect to live forever and I think those of us that have been with people battling cancer, you realise, actually, this surrounds us everywhere we go.
If I'd done a quarter of the things of which I'm accused, I'd be pickled in alcohol, I'd be a registered drug addict and would have sired half the children in the world's cricket-playing countries
I have formed the Mahendra Singh Dhoni Charitable Trust which organises cricket tournaments in Jharkhand to identify promising cricketers so that we can help groom them, either in India or abroad.
I have made my thoughts on it (sledging) well known over the last couple of years. We are more than happy to be talking to opposition players in the field so long as it is not personal or abusive.
Having, and seeing, your dreams is very important, and so is chasing those dreams. You see dreams when you sleep, and as you chase your dreams, it keeps you awake. So it's important to stay awake.
I used to prepare in advance on how the bowler is going to bowl, whether is he going to bowl an outswinger or an inswinger? I used to watch the videos of the bowler and used to prepare in advance.
If I feel strongly about something, I don't bother what will people say, especially when it is about the country and the Army. But my cricketer friends are all politically correct when they tweet.
I was happy with the umpiring in India last year, New Zealand is OK these days, and the only real area of concern is Pakistan. They seem to have a chip on their shoulders about their cricket there.
When I'm playing a team sport, it's not about one individual, it's about everyone, from me to the other 23 people who were there, to all the support staff who've worked very hard behind the scenes.
Pakistan would be confident after their series win over England. The series will be a very close and good contest and if all the players play to their potential we're in for some wonderful cricket.
The whole Bible is the story of men and women trying to get back to God, to overcome that sin with sacrifices, good works, sermons, prophesy, witnessing, giving all kinds of things. It never worked
The best way to get away from a crisis and yet hold on the reins without performance is to find a godfather who would save you at crisis and fool the entire world..This is how it has worked for me.
I've made peace with the fact that the World Cup will not define me. Yes, it would be nice to add that to what's been a very enjoyable career, but I know it won't define me as a person or cricketer.
It is frustrating when you go all that way, you train, and you just don't turn up. It does happen. If you play 100-odd Test matches, there's going to be little periods when you don't score the runs.
I always thought we ought to recognise the blood, sweat and tears - and the sacrifices in being away from home - of former England players, and that current players should know what has come before.
As West Indians we have always been disrespected. As soon as we fight back they make it look like we are the bad one in the media. We've experienced these things over the years. So it's no surprise.
The whole Bible is the story of men and women trying to get back to God, to overcome that sin with sacrifices, good works, sermons, prophesy, witnessing, giving all kinds of things. It never worked.
I have to be prepared always and be at my best. I looked to bat 50 overs and score as many possible. It may not happen all the time, but whenever I see the opportunity, I try to make the most of it.
There is a lot of warmth and fellow-feeling whenever I have spoken to Virat. It's not that we get a chance to speak a lot, but from time to time, he would drop in a message, and I would do the same.
In your journey to the tag of winning-at-all-costs you can still behave, you can still do the right things by not crossing the line. Lot of champions have done it. Look at Rahul Dravid, Steve Waugh.
And that was what I was asking to happen and I was told that the indictment would be signed, but I was coming to the end of my one-year contract, I had to return to New Zealand for personal reasons.
I'm Uncle Viv to Ian Botham's son, Liam, and I've been a sort of mentor to him over the years. I've always been there for him and whenever there was an opportunity to see him play sport, I was there.
I cried like a baby. When no one could see me or hear me. Not because I feared what cancer would do, but because I didn't want the disease. I wanted my life to be normal, which it could no longer be.
Money wasn't the motivating factor in calling time on my international career and focusing on T20 cricket. If I was here to make as much money as I can, I would be playing 10 to 12 tournaments a year.
My stubbornness helped me for the first half of my career; I had that real determination to do it my way - I know the best way. That helped me from a 14-year-old to 25 in getting me to where I got to.
Relief isn't quite the right word but there's satisfaction at a job well done and I'm proud to say that I'm an Ashes-winning captain. Without taking it too personally, it has a nice little ring to it.