Shreyas Iyer

“The A tour has always given me an opportunity to prove myself in the higher league as this is the stepping stone.”

“I do not play for money. I want to play the game to the best of my ability. If I do that everything will follow.”

“I have to believe in my process and I know I follow a certain pattern to score runs. I have to believe that I will be getting runs if I have a certain mindset and I know I will.”

“It's better to enjoy life - selection is a temporary thing.”

“When you go out to play in different conditions against different bowlers, it is always challenging.”

“Pull and sweep are two shots which can help me score runs outside India. These are two shots that can immediately put pressure back on bowlers.”

“You have to always work on your batting as you are never perfect. I am working on my batting every day and trying to perfect a few shots that will help me score all around the world.”

“I thought magic tricks would be a really good way to start conversations. I looked them up on YouTube and slowly mastered them.”

“I have stopped thinking too much. It all started against West Indies. I told myself that I want to enjoy my life. I don't want selection issues to rule my happiness.”

“I know what my strengths are, and I have worked really hard on my weaknesses as well.”

“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.”

“Yes, you tend to lose patience but selection is not in your hands. All you can do is perform, perform and perform and that's what I enjoy doing.”

“Before the match starts I visualise that I will try to rotate the strike and take singles. But if I see that the players batting before me are struggling, and the wicket is not playing that good, I try to dominate from the first ball.”

“After I joined the Indian cricket team, MS Dhoni advised me that I need to avoid reading the newspapers and should try to stay away from social media as much as possible.”

“All pieces of the puzzle need to fall in the right place to be a champion team.”

“I just used to back my instincts and go with the flow. Lately, I've realised that once you play at the highest level you've got to take that maturity to another stage.”