Sachin Tendulkar

“Critics haven't taught me my cricket, and they don't know what my body and mind are up to.”

“The Australian tour was good for us; it was ideal preparation for us.”

“I hate losing and cricket being my first love, once I enter the ground it's a different zone altogether and that hunger for winning is always there.”

“When I was 15, I started playing first class cricket and always dreamt of being a Test cricketer, wanted to do something for the country, married in 1995, have 2 kids it's been great.”

“I just want to continue the way I am going.”

“Shoaib Akhtar has been playing for 5, 6 years and is an experienced bowler.”

“Isn't cricket supposed to be a team sport? I feel people should decide first whether cricket is a team game or an individual sport.”

“It has been very good here, but the World Cup game was different. It had a different significance to it.”

“Schools across India do not have teachers, libraries, playing grounds and even toilets. I do not want to see empty classrooms, empty libraries. I do not want to see cattle grazing on fields meant to be cricket or football grounds.”

“Obviously after such a long gap, one itches to get back to the game and score big runs.”

“I have never believed in comparisons, whether they are about different eras, players or coaches.”

“If one man is representing India in cricket, then yes, blame that person when things go wrong.”

“It doesn't always happen according to the way you have planned things out but I feel if you have covered most of the aspects, it does help out there in the middle.”

“As a kid I loved John McEnroe. They called me Mac because, while everyone else liked Borg, I was crazy about McEnroe. I tried wearing headbands and sweatbands, and whooping at people. It didn't quite work.”

“I always had a dream to play for India but I never let it put pressure on me.”

“New Zealand's Daniel Vettori is a very good bowler.”

“Before you lay a foundation on the cricket field, there should be a solid foundation in your heart and you start building on that. After that as you start playing more and more matches, you learn how to score runs and how to take wickets.”

“I feel it's the conscious mind that messes things up. The conscious mind is constantly telling you, this might happen or that might happen, even before it has happened. Your conscious mind tells you the next ball might be a out-swinger, but when it's coming at you you realize it's an in-swinger... so literally, you've played two balls.”

“I am a sportsman and not a politician. I am a sportsman and will always remain one. I am not going to enter politics giving up cricket, which is my life. I will continue to play cricket.”

“I have never thought where I will go, or forced any targets on myself.”