Virender Sehwag

“I don't care whether I am politically correct or not when I tweet.”

“When I took up cricket seriously, I wanted to play for India. When my dream was achieved, I thought what next? Then a fellow cricketer told me, 'Playing for India is easy; playing for 10-15 years is difficult.' Then I changed my dream to play 100 Test matches. I achieved that as well. Now there is nothing to achieve, so I am just enjoying things.”

“I curse myself if I get out without making a 100 after crossing 40.”

“There is no point playing in the IPL when I have retired from international cricket. I did not want a youngster to miss out because of me.”

“When I grew up, I tried to score off every ball, be it a 10-over-match, a 20-over, or even a Test match. If I stay in the wicket for, say, about 30 minutes, I want to make the most of it and score maximum runs possible. You never know when you get out; try to score as much possible before that.”

“If you are disciplined, it shows you are organised.”

“There has been the negative impact of spot-fixing and match-fixing, but it is the individual player's responsibility to look after that because if a player wants to do that, it is difficult to stop him. It is the individual player's responsibility to play fairly.”

“As an international player, the players have to adapt to the condition no matter what the situation is.”

“I try to hit the ball along the ground, especially against fast bowlers. I also like the bat to come down in the right position and check if my body position is correct. If I'm really watching the ball carefully, then automatically I'm in a good position to hit it down the ground.”

“Every coach desires to bring in his own support staff.”

“Once I took to Twitter and shared those jokes, they became a huge hit. My following grew, and some of the posts got thousands of retweets. With so many shares, money from sponsors followed.”

“Fitness has nothing to do with age.”

“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.”

“When I faced the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee for the first time, I had a little bit of fear in my mind. My thoughts were, 'Would I be able to face them? Would I be able to play them? Would I be able to hit boundaries?' There were so many questions and fear, also, that if the ball didn't hit my bat, it might hit me on the body.”

“When I play a cover-drive, I play it to score runs.”

“In my view, if you have good or bad technique, it doesn't matter. But you will survive if you can adjust your game at international level, you are mentally strong, you know your strengths and how to score runs.”

“I love to score runs rather than defending or leaving the ball. That is an important aspect of my batting: I don't want to waste balls in any form of the game.”

“If a player is playing IPL and earning money, it's not his fault that he's not playing for India. He is not quitting. He is playing first-class, one-day cricket and IPL. If selectors don't pick him, what can he do?”

“If I had planned to score double and triple hundreds, I would probably not have made them ever.”

“Whenever senior players are missing, its ideal for youngsters to avail of these opportunities.”