Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
On your debut, you just want to get into the game. I remember when I played my first Test, we bowled first and I went wicketless in the first innings. I felt like I was searching to make a contribution.
To participate in a World Cup is a great honour and achievement. I've played in three World Cups. The whole world watches you during a World Cup and expects you to play innings to win games for your country.
I don't think it matters too much if you are batting or bowling first on this pitch. The wicket remains the same throughout the 40 overs. There is only the dew factor that probably comes in the second innings.
There's been times where I've come out of the bullpen thinking I was going to throw a no hitter, and I've lasted two or three innings. So I try not to use my pre-game warm ups as a barometer of how I'm going to pitch.
I have always enjoyed playing as a batsman. In the T20 format, I have been asked to play at six or seven. I have finished a few innings batting first and a few chasing. It feels good and it feels like yes I can do it.
A hero today must be Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan rolled into one. These are the six hero slots in Hindi cinema and an actor must be able to play all if he wants a long innings.
I'm learning from my past mistakes and trying to correct them as I move forward. Experience at the international level has probably taught me what it takes to probably go out there and get a 100 or to build an innings or to win a game.
One of the things you have to deal with is the pressure of expectations. It takes time for people to believe in yourself; to believe you can finish the innings. You try and do it consistently and that's what you aim to do as a batsman.
After you score 300 runs in one innings, you begin to feel that every innings should be close to this one. Of course, I know that won't happen. But I will be disappointed if I get going well and am unable to convert it into a huge score.
I have no desire to be a centenarian. I think 90 is a great time. You've had a good innings. You have to deal with the cards that have been dealt, of course, but I don't think very old age, if you haven't got your marbles, can be very nice.
Baseball is a movable conversation across nine innings. It is eye contact with the person seated next to you in a park where the pitcher is separated from the batter by 60 feet, six inches or in a family room where a 60-inch TV screen hangs on the wall.
We have to judge politicians by their cumulative score. In one innings they make a great catch, in another they drop the ball. In one they score a home run, in another they strike out. But it is their cumulative batting average that we are interested in.
In August 1945, a former Army pilot with an artificial leg pitched five and a third innings for Washington against Boston. This would turn out to be Bert Shepard's only major league game, and it remains one of the heartwarming moments in baseball history.
I think I rushed and I needed more time with my comeback. I needed more time to get my legs stronger to be able to handle the workload. You can only train for that by pitching innings. You can't simulate pitching off a mound in a game inside a weight room.
Winning the game is the single most important thing. If you go 0-for-4, but you catch a shutout or a one-run game, and your pitcher goes seven, eight innings, and the closer closes out the game, that's the ultimate satisfaction for a catcher. Much more than going 4-for-4 and losing.
In sport, there is always room for improvement. Whenever I see my innings against the West Indies or Australia, I think, 'Maybe, I could have done this better or should have changed that.' See, cricket is a skill game, and one can always improve upon the impact one has on an innings.
I think scoring runs in the Ranji Trophy is a bit easier than in T20s because the fielders are always inside the circle at the start of the innings and look to attack. So if you push in the gap you will get runs. At the start it is not quite difficult, once you settle down it becomes easier.
I remember getting hit in the ribs when I was on about eight or nine in my first game, and everyone rushed over, quite concerned. The umpire said to me afterwards, 'If anyone had appealed I would have had to give you out LB!' I ended that innings about nine not out off about 15 overs. I was already digging in - Yorkshire style.
Look, the umpires behind the plate? They're human. They're doing the best they can to try to call balls and strikes. I understand that there's a lot of calls that kinda are 50-50. They can go either way. And as a starting pitcher, you try to manage, 'Alright, if you didn't get that call, maybe you'll get it again here a few innings later.'
Sports teaches you there is always a second innings in life. If you fail today, there's a second innings maybe two days later. Maybe there's another opportunity coming up three or six months later. If you look at mistake as learnings and commit never to make a same mistake again, then you actually get better with every mistake that you make.
