[Applause] stadiums are a lot more louder than this come on all right so we know that cricket was an arranged marriage for you your your father had decided already that this is the sport that he will play um when is it that you fell in love with Cricket let’s let’s ask you
That um still figuring that out because I think that’s a very interesting word arranged marriage uh I I was very young that time I was more into roller skating and you know playing bit of tennis and playing football and and eventually my father said you just going to play cricket from now on
Because I think he wanted me to live his dream yeah he didn’t play for India for a long time he wanted me to become a fast bowler but uh fortunately for me and unfortunately for him I became a batsman allrounder spinner and uh yeah I think at the age of
Say 15 16 started competing and um you know winning the under 19 World Cup I knew that I had it in me to go all the way but I didn’t know how to sustain it cuz I was very young so I think at the age of I was almost going
To be 19 I played played first time for India H against one of the best attacks in the world and I think just again the process had started from the age of 11 that my father was hitting me with wet tennis balls leather balls plastic balls
At times I was not wearing a helmet as well because my father’s Idol was Vivan Richards so he said if he’s not going to wear a helmet you’re not going to wear a helmet as well so I had to convince him after a couple of years that you know
The best place of AR is tuler he wears a helmet see if you could tell us about some things that you did you believe that no one else or very few people would have done at that point in time I was um uh number three batsman uh opening number three
Batsman and when I played for India for the first time I B number five Y and then I got a regular spot at number six so I could not b top of the order like rinda seog was batting at six and he started to open so I think the team F
Wanted him to open and me to batter number six and that’s how the formation happened with the balance of Team came in so sometimes I feel that you have to sacrifice your own personal goal for the team uh to look at the bigger picture to achieve the bigger picture so I think
That’s uh I I sacrifice that because I everybody wants to bet higher up the order because you know you want to get hundreds you want to break records and obviously the more balls you play the more opportunities you have but I think the team required me to B at
Number six and had to sacrifice a personal goal for the team where did you learn these virtues of humility spirituality patience discipline sticking to the process I mean 11 12 year olds uh turning 16 to 19 it would be difficult right to learn all those
Things yeah I mean my father was on my case 24/7 uh he didn’t uh leave me for a single moment I mean from 6:00 a.m. in the morning till 8:00 in the evening I was on the park literally and then he kind of removed the garden in the house
And made a cement Wicket where I used to practice in the night and that was the discipline he created at a very young age and then obviously when I came in the Indian team I could see how my seniors would behave off the field like how good ambassadors
They were of the country you know how to treat other people how to talk to the media how to speak to your fans I think that that showed a lot of humility so it was it was a hard balance you know as a young kid I always thought you know when
You play for India you can do whatever you want and then I realized when you’re playing for India you can’t do 90% of things because you’re being watched every day and you have to set example out there for the Youth and you know when was it that that moment uh when did
It hit you when you said that okay you’re playing for India you’re being watched every day you can’t do everything that you want was there any particular ular instance or was it over a period of time I think when you get dropped from the team and I got dropped
From the team and you get so much of criticism and you’re not able to handle it because you’re a young kid and then slowly you learn to handle it and you know you come back in the team you you succeed again and then slowly slowly you
Realize that this is all just a part of your journey you know when you’re representing India you know you have a lot of responsibility and you have to be in a certain way and you have to balance your life along with it so I think um learn
The hard way and that’s what made me who I am today because I learned the hard way you said that you learned a lot from the team environment at the time you joined your seniors Etc tell me a couple of things that people have taught you okay I’ll take some
Names Mr Anil Kum you call him the Headmaster he was a hard task master on the field like I remember when me and Mohammad K were Fielding we knew if the ball goes from us he’s going to have a go at us so our job guys who are 20 21
The park is to break your body but the ball should not pass you so you know you could see the guy would give 100% I mean remember Kum was bowling with a broken jaw in West Indies so it’s so inspiring to see a senior do that if you can he can do
That then you need to learn to do that right so that was an Kum for you but a lovely guy of the field who we still joke around with him and he laughs at us vender seag you spoke about him opening the Innings wham bam was he off the
Field the same as he was on the field no holds B Vu was a completely different guy he’s um he would whistle off the field he will whistle on the field while he’s batting he’s someone who really didn’t it seemed like he didn’t take much pressure on himself cuz if he’s the kind
Of guy if he had a look at the first ball he would go after it and he was very clear in his thinking that if I see the ball I hit the ball and uh very relaxed Sky off the field as well what was ganguli process like because everyone calls him the
Aggressive Captain who backed all the youngsters and all of that and stuff I’m sure there was method to the madness see I think s of obviously a very young captain and uh had a lot of huge responsibility because uh because after some controversies couple of younger guys
Came in the team and he really backed us like we were not consistent we were in out of the team but he knew that we had the talent so actually he uh really supported us I will save this one for the last and that is Mr Sachin Ramesh
Tendulkar because you said you lifted the bat because of him you started admiring Cricket because of him so what were the few things that you learned from him me and my dad will always bet every game how much sain will score and you know seen him play since a very
Young age and my father would say if he can play at 16 you can play at 14 I like my dad’s got really higho from me so learning I think very humble very humble human you always there as a senior uh it took a long time
To uh you know get close to him because by the time I came in the sign he was already a legend at a very young age and I remember I sat in the dressing room for the first time and I opened my kid bag and I had a picture of Sachin and he
Was sitting next to me wow and uh and he looked at my coffin he goes nice picture who’s that who’s that guy and he started laughing so I think broke the ice that’s how I was able to speak to him and obviously over the years uh you know I
Have a relationship with him where I can go and speak to him about my life you know by my struggles obviously my struggles of batting I would always go in sought out with him so I think he was kind of my mentor in the team whenever he was there and
Whenever I was there in the team so learned a lot from him just a few personal things that he would have told you that helped you a lot in your life outside of cricket if you could share some of those with us you just gauge like how he talks to people like his
Attitude in training if he scored a zero or a 100 would be the same I remember he was on 700s and he would work for Gary Cen for long hours in 2003 World Cup he was uh you could see the the guys you know practicing things differently and
You like you know learn a lot from it and then obviously how you know he spoke to the media and how to be grounded when you are you know that successful and obviously um I had a couple of issues with batting in my spin I was not a good
Player of spin when I came to the side he told me that you know you need to you need to learn how to sweep especially when you’re playing in slow Asian tracks and every time I was in trouble a bit of motivation I think before the World Cup
I had a great chat with him where actually really helped me in terms of you know uh getting the best of my mental side because physically I was struggling so you know sometimes you don’t see things in you but people see around what’s happening so it’s good to know that
Somebody’s got your back well he’s just described the qualities of a great mentor and that perhaps leads to the team’s Victory as well 2007 and the the next 2020 world cup is what I’d like your thoughts about not the 2007 T20 World Cup but the 2007 ODI World Cup
Where the team wasn’t doing well what do you think happened out there because on paper that perhaps was the strongest team ever I mean we didn’t have a good atmosphere in the dressing room when the team is not yelling together results are not going to come by what does that mean
A good atmosphere because one would imagine that you know there are kids who are just going out to play a game and ideally there should be a happy atmosphere that’s what the average Joe thinks but what is not a good atmosphere when kids going out there to play they
Have a they have a Fearless mind when adults go out to play they have a fearful mind so the atmosphere on the team means like guys are not jelling the decisions that are happening people not agreeing with that uh there are groups in the team and uh there’s not a good
Vibe you know so all those things were happening you know as I said talk about dulka he was our best player he was batting at number four which was I don’t think was the right decision at that time but again you know uh it’s debatable and then obviously uh lot of
Guys were dropped and then they came back in the side just before the World Cup so it was just uh not a good time in Indian cricket and uh you know you learn from it and you move forward Ms Toni usually does not speak much you said in
The game against Australia while he was going getting out he walked past you and said shabash yeah I think it was a very high pressure game and uh normally if you look at our stats me and may had a lot of big Partnerships incredible ones yeah
We don’t need to look at Stats we’ll just jog our memory down and our childhood has been colored with some some great but also big games big games big games and I remember and the thing is that we lost to Australia 2003 World Cup final and that’s obviously playing
In your mind and then you’re chasing 265 they got you 180 for5 and Don got out and I remember him normally if he gets out or I get out we just go back to dressing room and he just walked past and he said shabash shui and I was like yeah there’s
Anywhere no pressure here and you just said that in my head I was thinking
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