Cricket Quotes

‘A gun is no more dangerous than a cricket bat in the hands of a madman.’ – Prince Philip

‘No cricket team in the world depends on one or two players. The team always plays to win.’ – Virat Kohli

‘It’s always been the most important thing for me to enjoy my cricket.’ – AB de Villiers

‘Cricket is not everything, not by any means, but it is a large part of who I am.’ – MS Dhoni

‘Cricket is a team game. No individual can just say he can win it on his own.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘Cricket is such a sport that you get to learn something from someone every day.’ – Ravindra Jadeja

‘No matter how much cricket you have played you are always learning.’ – Alastair Cook

‘But eventually it is a game of cricket.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘I think we judge talent wrong. What do we see as talent? I think I have made the same mistake myself. We judge talent by people’s ability to strike a cricket ball. The sweetness, the timing. That’s the only thing we see as talent. Things like determination, courage, discipline, temperament, these are also talent.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘You can cut the tension with a cricket stump.’ – Murray Walker

‘I don’t think age matters. In cricket, if you have the skill, you can go on playing.’ – Dale Steyn

‘An out-and-out fast bowler is one of the great sights in cricket.’ – James Anderson

‘Cricket is basically baseball on valium.’ – Robin Williams

‘The people you choose to have around you make all the difference. My family and close friends keep me grounded. You have to have a mind of your own and a strong head on your shoulders. Cricket is the most important thing to me, so the rest of it pales in comparison.’ – Virat Kohli

‘Cricket is not gender biased. It isn’t that men’s cricket is different and women’s a different one.’ – Mithali Raj

‘Nothing is easy in cricket. Maybe when you watch it on TV, it looks easy. But it is not. You have to use your brain and time the ball.’ – Rohit Sharma

‘That’s cricket. Some days are good, some are bad. No one is going to be amazing all the time. Sometimes I feel it’s not a fair world – really and truly.’ – Jofra Archer

‘Aggressive cricket is a form of cricket where you play to win.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Village cricket spread fast through the land.’ – G. M. Trevelyan

‘Finishing is one of the most difficult things to do in cricket. A player can’t be a finisher in just 6 months or one year. You have to be used to that responsibility, keeping on doing what is required from you over a period of time.’ – MS Dhoni

‘Cricket is my first love.’ – Yohan Blake

‘I always breathe cricket.’ – Kapil Dev

‘Spirituality does two things for you. One, you are forced to become more selfless, two, you trust to providence. The opposite of a spiritual man is a materialist. If I was a materialist I would be making lots of money doing endorsements, doing cricket commentary. I have no interest in that.’ – Imran Khan

‘Racism is not only in football, it’s in cricket too. Even within teams as a black man, I get the end of the stick. Black and powerful. Black and proud.’ – Chris Gayle

‘I’m proud of what I’ve achieved in cricket, as once I didn’t think I was good enough.’ – Shane Warne

‘I can’t leave cricket. It is my passion.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘Nobody wants to really play bad cricket.’ – MS Dhoni

‘When a fan buys a ticket for a cricket match or a movie, he is not worried about the colour, creed, or religion of the person sitting next to him. If you look at any actor’s fan base in India, you will find that they are from different regions.’ – Ajith Kumar

‘Cricket is a team game. If you want fame for yourself, go play an individual game.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘My older brother’s a cricket groundsman, my other brother’s a salesman, and my younger brother’s a trader in the City.’ – Daniel Mays

‘I do love cricket – it’s so very English.’ – Sarah Bernhardt

‘I didn’t have a good time with Lancashire in 2000. Probably I’d played too much cricket and should have taken a rest, but I went there when the offer came because I had always had an ambition to play the county game in England. And I was a bit jaded. And I didn’t do myself justice. I want to put that right before I finish my career.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘Believe it or not, cricket was my first love. I would genuinely have swapped the dream of a winning goal at Wembley for a century against the Australians at Lord’s.’ – Brian Clough

‘I was the youngest child and the only son. I was expected to shine in academics. It seemed like too big a risk to take up cricket as a career. I thought I had to live up to my family’s expectations. So I chose to be an engineer.’ – Sushant Singh Rajput

‘As a fast bowler, if you are out of the game for five months, then that can be catastrophic, but to be out of the game for five years was very tough, and to make a comeback after such a lengthy period with no cricket behind me was a difficult ask.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘My dad talks about the times when we’d play backyard cricket: If I got bowled out, I’d just refuse to let go of the bat and swing it at anyone who tried to take it away from me. I like to think that’s been tempered a bit over the years.’ – Chris Hemsworth

‘My point of view is that when I am playing cricket I cannot think that this game is less or more important.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘As long as I value what I have and respect my cricket, I know I am on the right path.’ – Ajinkya Rahane

‘I am fully aware that cricket is like a second religion in Pakistan.’ – AB de Villiers

‘Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended.’ – George Bernard Shaw

‘I’m a standup comedian who can’t drive. I have never learned. I don’t trust my hand-eye coordination. You’re looking at someone who once dropped a cricket ball on to his own head during a routine catching practice; I don’t think it’s a great idea to have me in control of a high-speed metal death robot.’ – Nish Kumar

‘I went to trials at Northants academy and got in. It was a crossroads between cricket and football.’ – Ben Chilwell

‘Spirit of cricket is not about just the guidelines provided.’ – MS Dhoni

‘After accepting the captaincy at the beginning of the 1998 season, I immediately set high but attainable goals for the West Indies cricket team and myself.’ – Brian Lara

‘Cricket kept me away from trouble.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘The beauty of Test cricket is all about playing an opponent in their backyard or defending home turf under challenging conditions over five days – dominating each session, dominating each day, picking 20 wickets to win a contest. That’s historically been cricket’s most fascinating gift.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Laziness isn’t merely a physical phenomenon,about being a couch potato,stuffing your face with fries and watching cricket all day. It’s a mental thing, too, and that’s the part I have never aspired for.’ – Shah Rukh Khan

‘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.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘I don’t think there is any 16-year-old who is going to embark on the sort of career that Sachin Tendulkar has had and walk away from the game at 40 with such great achievements. He’s the Muhammad Ali and the Michael Jordan of cricket.’ – Brian Lara

‘To me, cricket is a simple game. Keep it simple and just go out and play.’ – Shane Warne

‘I think the more cricket you play, the more you will learn about yourself and learn about life in general.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘When I was younger, I played football and table tennis for local teams. I also played mini-rugby at primary school – I was tall for my age – and Preston Grasshoppers wanted me, but I wasn’t that interested in rugby. It was always going to be cricket for me.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘I was just a regular kid who was interested in studying, playing cricket, and watching movies.’ – Vicky Kaushal

‘If I never have to write another word about cricket again, I’ll be a happy man.’ – Joseph O’Neill

‘Cricket is not everything, not by any means, but it is a large part of who I am. Therefore, I want to play in all formats of the game and to play as much as possible because, before long, it will be over.’ – MS Dhoni

‘With all franchise cricket going on around in the world, the intensity of the game, sometimes is a burden.’ – Brian Lara

‘You can get suckered into believing you have to always be attacking with the bat, ball or fielding positions. But Test cricket is not always like that. There are times when it is a bit slow paced and even a bit boring.’ – James Anderson

‘You can get too close as a team. You need time away from each other. You change in the same dressing room, you play on the same cricket field, you stay in the same hotel, you travel in the same planes and buses. C’mon – this business of everyone holding hands and being pally is nonsense.’ – Glenn Turner

‘If you play good cricket, a lot of bad things get hidden.’ – Kapil Dev

‘From a spectator point of view, Test cricket is not important; people hardly watch Test cricket. But as a player, Tests are the real thing. You have to concentrate for five days. It’s a lot of time, and not easy to do it day in and day out. If people have played 70-100 Tests, it’s a lot of cricket, a lot of concentration and dedication.’ – Yuvraj Singh

‘I was attracted to cricket at a very young age. My father’s elder brother Akram Siddiq saw the passion for cricket in me, so he pushed me, and then another uncle – father of Kamran, Umar, and Adnan Akmal – advised my father to work hard on me, as he thought that I will make it big in cricket.’ – Babar Azam

‘Unloved is not the right word… but I never felt I made the grade. Mark was a blond, very attractive little boy, and sporty, so Dad was always teaching him to play cricket on the lawn… I always felt I came second out of two.’ – Carol Thatcher

‘My brother shaved a cricket bat out of a coconut branch… we played cricket with anything we put our hands on – a hard orange, a lime, a marble – anything we could use in the backyard or the streets.’ – Brian Lara

‘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.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘Many Continentals think life is a game; the English think cricket is a game.’ – George Mikes

‘When I studied in DPS Mathura Road in Delhi, there was a school for blind exactly opposite to our school. I used to go there every week and spend time seeing how these students played cricket and did other things normally.’ – Shriya Saran

‘I was in the football, rugby, cricket and hockey teams at school; bit of squash. Tennis obviously.’ – Tim Henman

‘MS Dhoni would know what’s best for him. He has served Indian cricket very well.’ – Brian Lara

‘There is an amazing craze for cricket in India.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘KL Rahul has the technique for all forms of the game and for me more Test cricket than anything else. And if he performs so well in T20s and the 50-overs game, I think Test cricket is really where he’s made for.’ – Brian Lara

‘The public want to see people play an exciting brand of cricket.’ – Shane Warne

‘If you keep winning, people will stay glued to our cricket.’ – Mithali Raj

‘It’s a funny kind of month, October. For the really keen cricket fan, it’s when you discover that your wife left you in May.’ – Denis Norden

‘One thing about our country that is constant is cricket.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I announced my retirement from international cricket in May 2018 because I wanted to reduce my workload and spend more time with my wife and young sons. Some have insisted I was motivated purely by money. They are wrong.’ – AB de Villiers

‘Test cricket is still important, so are ODIs, but T20 should be there too because of the crowd factor.’ – Brian Lara

‘Test cricket tests your ability as a cricketer but also bring out your true character.’ – James Anderson

‘In world cricket, I think Joe Root is a fine captain.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘When there is time to think about cricket, I think but when there is time to be with family, I try to do justice to that aspect of my life as well.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘A cricket ball broke my nose when I was a kid so I couldn’t breath through it. Before I had it operated on I used to stand on stage with my mouth slightly open.’ – Damian Lewis

‘Cricket’s in the blood – my dad loves it and my brother Simon played for Middlesex before becoming a radio and TV cricket commentator.’ – Bettany Hughes

‘I miss bowling, I am what I am because of cricket only.’ – Yuzvendra Chahal

‘Badminton is not as glamorous as cricket.’ – Saina Nehwal

‘I’m a big sports fan. Football. Cricket.’ – Danny Boyle

‘I just want that someone in their 50s or 60s, when they talk about Brian Lara, they say ‘I enjoyed watching that guy playing cricket.” – Brian Lara

‘I always dreamt of holding the bat and winning games for India. That was my inspiration to take up cricket.’ – Virat Kohli

‘I started playing cricket with my brother in our back garden when I was eight. The garden was long and thin, so it was perfect for us to play cricket in. We’d use a crate as the wicket. We broke quite a few windows.’ – Isa Guha

‘I resigned from captaincy because I wanted the new captain to get enough time for preparing a team before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.’ – MS Dhoni

‘To me, it doesn’t matter how good you are. Sport is all about playing and competing. Whatever you do in cricket and in sport, enjoy it, be positive and try to win.’ – Ian Botham

‘The year 1989 was crucial for me because I had just moved from the country into Sydney to play first-class cricket. That was the time I heard of a teenager called Sachin Tendulkar, who had burst on to the scene and was being annointed as successor to the great Sunil Gavaskar.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘When I was 21, I did not have that much pressure. I was sitting down on the bench… you know… cleaning Sir Vivian Richards’s boots or doing something… getting ready to play international cricket.’ – Brian Lara

‘Cricket has driven down the standard of every other sport.’ – Milkha Singh

‘I don’t like discussing cricket off the field.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I delayed my father’s funeral because of cricket.’ – Virat Kohli

‘Now T20 is different. It’s not Test cricket. It’s chilled and fun and let’s do things different.’ – Chris Gayle

‘There is no reason why one should believe you should leave out politicians in cricket or any sport for that matter. There are ways and means in which government can assist in the management and development of players.’ – Roosevelt Skerrit

‘I played a lot of my early cricket in Haridwar and Dehradun. But I just had to come to Delhi if I had to make a career out of it.’ – Rishabh Pant

‘After cricket I’d love to build a family, I’d love to get close to someone and have kids, see them evolve into something special.’ – Brian Lara

‘I feel I have had a very interesting life, but I am rather hoping there is still more to come. I still haven’t captained the England cricket team, or sung at Carnegie Hall!’ – Jeffrey Archer

‘I’m a person who sometimes tends to worry too much about cricket. Previously I would think about the game for probably 15 hours, but now with the presence of my wife it has come down to ten hours, and I would like to bring that down to about nine.’ – Dinesh Karthik

‘I wanted to bat for the England cricket team. I was quite good at cricket. But then I kept getting out for low scores. It turned out I didn’t have the talent.’ – Michael McIntyre

‘If one man is representing India in cricket, then yes, blame that person when things go wrong.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘The family farm plays such a big part in my life and I genuinely love going back there. In some ways I’d like to spend every day there, but there would be a big hole in my life if I didn’t stay involved in cricket.’ – Alastair Cook

‘The contribution of Anthony William Greig to English cricket has been underestimated because of his allegiance to Kerry Packer and his choice to recruit players for World Series Cricket while still the England captain. His critics hold that as a black mark against him, which rules out anything else he may have done.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘When I was a child, I got an opportunity to see all the big players in a cricket match. I was a ball boy outside the boundary line. I picked the ball and waited a bit for Sachin Tendulkar to come near me to give it to him. The sense of being in the same space was special. While thousands were watching, I was close to Sachin.’ – Harshvardhan Rane

‘I think if you’re writing about cricket, you’re obviously writing about power, because cricket is such a loaded sport, much more so than soccer.’ – Joseph O’Neill

‘I loved playing cricket from my childhood. My dad made me play in the streets, and my interest grew. He put me in a club, seeing this. My habit grew from that point.’ – Babar Azam

‘Cricket is very simple… you play till you can sustain.’ – Kapil Dev

‘Age is just a number. If someone can perform at 45, who will stop that fellow from playing top-level cricket?’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘My main focus is always to do well on the field for the Indian cricket team. When people say good things about me off the field, I am more than happy to accept them.’ – Virat Kohli

‘It’s quite strange, because off the field I’m quite shy, quiet, prefer to watch a bit of TV at home, but get me on the cricket field I like it all kicking off.’ – Stuart Broad

‘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.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘Whenever I go through any sort of bad patch, I remind myself that part of the game of cricket is God testing you.’ – Joe Root

‘I followed in my brother’s footsteps. I used to wake up at 5 a.m, and wait for him to complete his cricket practice just so I could play the 10-15 balls pitched to me at the end.’ – Smriti Mandhana

‘Cricket is a self-sustaining industry; but corporates need to realise that other sports don’t have that luxury. This is the time when they need to invest, and keep the faith. Every sport has the potential to create world champions. Imagine India as a country full of world champions. Why imagine? Let’s just make it happen.’ – Gagan Narang

‘It’s all about doing the little things right. It doesn’t matter what form of cricket you are playing. Just keep things simple, and you will succeed.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘I have had to work really hard at white-ball cricket. It doesn’t come naturally to me, I was a slow batsman; I worked hard on my game and fitness.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘Whether that was in the Chepauk Stadium in Madras or at the Ilford Cricket School, there was a daily diet of cricket run by my dad. It was a hard school but he knew what he was doing. Everything I achieved was down to my dad.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘The more you win, the brand of women’s cricket will go higher.’ – Mithali Raj

‘I feel when somebody has been playing cricket for a long time, he creates a separate identity for himself.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘About five years ago, I was offered a contract by the Clifton Village Cricket Club in Nottingham, England. I was staying with one of my teammates there and everything was new for me.’ – Shreyas Iyer

‘When Pakistan beat England at cricket, my Pakistani cousins remind me how English and British I am. When they say, ‘You’re one of the Queen’s advisers,’ for them it’s, ‘Wow – anything’s possible in the U.K.” – Sadiq Khan

‘I was a kid who loved to read. I read everything I could get my hands on. I didn’t have one favorite book. I had lots of favorite books: ‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton, ‘Paddington’ by Michael Bond, ‘A Little Princess’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett, ‘Stuart Little’ by EB White, ‘A Cricket in Times Square,’ all the Beverly Cleary books.’ – Kate DiCamillo

‘Do I want to play Test cricket? Yeah, yeah. I’ve got a few milestones I’d like to achieve – so I very much want to play Test cricket.’ – Jofra Archer

‘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.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I understand cricket – what’s going on, the scoring – but I can’t understand why.’ – Bill Bryson

‘My captaincy model was characterised by two distinctive pillars. Proper identification of talent and then ensuring the young finds play fearless cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘In tennis ball cricket, even it’s hit from the toe of the bat, the ball still travels a lot, but in normal cricket, it has to be the middle part of the bat, so it requires a lot of work.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I have formed the Mahendra Singh Dhoni Charitable Trust which organises cricket tournaments in Jharkhand to identify promising cricketers so that we can help groom them, either in India or abroad.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I play cricket with passion. I just want to win games for the country.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I just want to keep playing good cricket and winning games of cricket.’ – Steve Smith

‘In England I played everything – swimming, athletics, football, rugby, badminton, cricket – all of that stuff. I was in the first teams for all the sports at Brighton, played on the wing in rugby, and ran 100m, 200m, 400m, and did long jump and even the javelin at one point. In the States I did a bit of track, but mainly I was there for the boxing.’ – Chris Eubank Jr.

‘Some people see life as a game of chess, while others prefer to see it as a game of cricket; but the longer I live, the more I think of it as a game of Consequences.’ – Craig Brown

‘Though I was born in a cricketing family and played Under 16 and Under 19 cricket for Delhi, my heart was always in cinema. Even while I was playing cricket, I was day dreaming about how it would be to stand on a film set saying lines.’ – Angad Bedi

‘Any active sportsman has to be very focused; you’ve got to be in the right frame of mind. If your energy is diverted in various directions, you do not achieve the results. I need to know when to switch on and switch off: and the rest of the things happen around that. Cricket is in the foreground, the rest is in the background.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘A cricket ground is a flat piece of earth with some buildings around it.’ – Richie Benaud

‘I’m disappointed people don’t recognise what I did in Test cricket. For an opening batsman to get two triple centuries? A lot of greats haven’t got one.’ – Chris Gayle

‘T20 is generally the fun side of cricket. You’ve got to have a sense of humour. Some days you can turn up and get whacked. Next game turn up, bowl the same and you don’t go for many. You have to take it as it comes.’ – Ben Stokes

‘Like an author, a cricketer signs his name on every innings he bats or bowls in; indeed for every cricket ball that challenges him on the field.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘I don’t see myself as a father figure but as someone who the younger players can come to and talk to about cricket. Not just batting but cricket in general and I am ready to impart with any information or advice I have.’ – Brian Lara

‘I come from a village, Changa Bangyaal. It is a very beautiful village. I am from a poor family. Right from the beginning, I always had a great deal of love for cricket.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘To be honest I wasn’t very good at football. I loved cricket and when I started making some big scores for my boys’ team, I dreamed of becoming the next Border.’ – Christian Vieri

‘I am an ardent cricket fan, and I have seen the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium matches on TV.’ – Kartik Aaryan

‘Emma wasn’t bothered about the fact that I was a ‘celebrity’, held in high esteem by millions of cricket fans around the world. As far as she was concerned, I was just her dad, and she believed that role should take priority over anything else.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘Cricket often leaves you scratching your head.’ – James Anderson

‘I suppose I’m a cultural Anglican, and I see evensong in a country church through much the same eyes as I see a village cricket match on the village green. I have a certain love for it.’ – Richard Dawkins

‘Once you play County cricket, you get strong in the mind and get used to different methods… If it’s swinging or seaming in overcast conditions, it’s all about how positive you are mentally and if your body movement is in the right direction… You can then always bat better.’ – Ajinkya Rahane

‘I want to give my six hours of serious cricket on the ground and then take whatever the result.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘It did help having a lot of exposure to international cricket at such a young age. That showed me what I need to do to be successful at that level.’ – Steve Smith

‘Sometimes I play cricket, and I play badminton.’ – Malala Yousafzai

‘I’ve always been a bit shy, especially in new situations. But I have that other side in me too. Cricket demands that you grow up fast. Playing in domestic tournaments as an overseas player, you’re expected to score runs and bring a lot to the group. And I expect that of myself.’ – Jos Buttler

‘When I am off the field, I am the calm, very quiet kind of easy-sailing ocean, and then when I am on a hot streak with a cricket ball, I can be the most disastrous waters you have ever been in.’ – Dale Steyn

‘The Sydney Cricket Ground is my favourite ground in the world, my home ground, and growing up in the bush all I wanted was to play at the SCG.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘I am a sports enthusiast, and if given an opportunity, I want to be a sportsman, even today. I want to promote the sport that is indigenous to India. Kabaddi is a matter of national pride. Why can’t cricket, hockey, football and kabaddi be given equal platforms and co-exist? I believe that can happen.’ – Abhishek Bachchan

‘What was scaring me was if we lost, I didn’t know how I’d play cricket again. This was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a World Cup final at Lord’s.’ – Jos Buttler

‘In cricket, there is a lot of psychology in the game, especially if you are watching people who are not top-class.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘It was always a dream to play Test cricket and get a first five-wicket haul over here.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘Internet governance is an oxymoron. The Internet must govern itself. But you can’t play cricket without any rules.’ – Kapil Sibal

‘Cricket was never my first choice. I never wanted to be a sportsperson. It just happened. It was destiny.’ – Mithali Raj

‘When I came to America in 1978, I was a huge sports fan – the problem was, my sport was cricket. Shockingly enough, no one wanted to talk cricket with me!’ – Indra Nooyi

‘Cricket is semi-pro for women in Australia, but the girls work damn hard, and it’s credit to them to try and grow the sport.’ – Ashleigh Barty

‘I really enjoyed the period in which I played my cricket. I can look back now and wish I started 10 years later and played in the T20s. But I also wish I was born 10 years earlier so that I could have been part of the all-conquering West Indies team of that time.’ – Brian Lara

‘I wanted to pursue my passion for cricket, but after school, I got into an engineering college.’ – Rahul Dev

‘I lose around a couple of crores every year on the school, but even if I was to make profit from it, I would never use it for myself. I’d plough every penny back into improving facilities for the school. Just as I do with the cricket academies I run around the country. These are not for making money; for that, I have other avenues.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘My father died in 1930, but if you told him or anybody almost in that time that you’d be able to sit back in England and watch a cricket game in Australia, they’d have you put in the loony bin.’ – Desmond Llewelyn

‘You might not think that’s cricket, and it’s not, it’s motor racing.’ – Murray Walker

‘Cricket needs brightening up a bit. My solution is to let the players drink at the beginning of the game, not after. It always works in our picnic matches.’ – Paul Hogan

‘Endless cricket, like endless anything else, simply grinds you down.’ – Ted Dexter

‘Most Americans think Abner Doubleday invented the game but he had little or nothing to do with cricket.’ – Henry Chadwick

‘One-day cricket is a very important part of our play. We’ve got a long way to go until the next World Cup and for us it’s one ruthless game after another where we can play well.’ – Matthew Hayden

‘Both sides have been playing tremendous cricket over a couple of years and they’re both very good units.’ – Matthew Hayden

‘I grew up on cricket and I think Australian kids are getting so Americanized, you know?’ – Rachel Griffiths

‘What I’d really like to give a try is cricket, because I grew up playing American baseball.’ – Jeremy London

‘I really got into the cricket and staying up late watching the World Cup.’ – Jeremy London

‘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.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool, but I don’t understand. My friends from The Clash tried to explain it years and years ago, but I didn’t understand what they were talking about.’ – Jim Jarmusch

‘I half knew what to expect when I saw the cricket ground in the morning. It was when I started to talk to people working out there, I began to find what I was looking for.’ – Ian Botham

‘I think we are going to see exciting cricket all the way. We are watching the two best teams in the world-and I think England will eventually go on to pip Australia by a single Test.’ – Ian Botham

‘I can remember running around at the age of 3, wanting to play golf, cricket and football. I was always active, one way or another, driving my parents mad.’ – Ian Botham

‘Soccer and cricket were my main sports growing up. I had trials as a soccer player with a few clubs interested, Crystal Palace being one, but it was cricket which became my chosen profession.’ – Ian Botham

‘I was a keen sportsman, and became school captain in soccer and cricket.’ – John E. Walker

‘Geez, I just played cricket because I loved the game. I never thought about it much, never really had any formal coaching.’ – Steve Waugh

‘Hitting a baseball well, as in cricket, is a very rare skill. One of most difficult things to do in the world to do, hitting a ball coming at you at ninety miles an hour with a round bat. Wonderful to watch.’ – Peter Tork

‘With just about every player in Australia, his whole goal and ambition is to play for Australia. That’s why they’re playing first class cricket. It’s just a different attitude.’ – Shane Warne

‘I was never any good at cricket thought I love it as a, as a sort of mystery.’ – Thomas Keneally

‘I love surfing more than cricket, more interesting and you meet great people.’ – Hansie Cronje

‘We really tried hard not to make it a cricket book, it appeals to a much wider community.’ – Hansie Cronje

‘Down the mine I dreamed of cricket; I bowled imaginery balls in the dark; I sent the stumps spinning and heard them rattling in the tunnels. No mishap was going to stop me from bowling in the real game, especially this one.’ – Harold Larwood

‘Cricket was my reason for living.’ – Harold Larwood

‘If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.’ – G. M. Trevelyan

‘The only reason I would have liked to have gone to university is because I like cricket. Not a very good reason to want to go, but as good as any, I suppose.’ – Jeffrey Bernard

‘I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth – certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either.’ – Harold Pinter

‘When you sit down and focus on the matches and series that took place during the 12 month period it strikes you just how broad the talent pool is in international cricket is today.’ – Sunil Gavaskar

‘Cricket the world over, I don’t think, will ever know how different things would be without Kerry Packer.’ – Tony Greig

‘A chance, as a coach, to take a team to the World Cup finals is probably as high up the tree as it gets, certainly with one-day cricket.’ – Andy Pick

‘Equally, though, there are guys who play England Under 19 who don’t even play First Class cricket. It is a watershed in the careers in many ways.’ – Andy Pick

‘I told another ESPN friend here, I love all sports. I can’t think of any I don’t love. I’ve even come to appreciate cricket. Maybe I could play a sportswriter. I don’t know. Anything in the sports realm is appealing.’ – Sean Astin

‘I was playing cricket first and my cricket coach was the one that introduced me to track and field.’ – Usain Bolt

‘Critics haven’t taught me my cricket, and they don’t know what my body and mind are up to.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘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.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘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.’ – Sachin Tendulkar

‘It’s certainly true that I was brought up in that British amateur tradition, the one which always held that if you were reasonably good at cricket, knew one or two Latin texts and a few zingy Oscar Wilde quotes for dinner parties, you were pretty much ready to go and run some outpost in Hindustan.’ – Damian Lewis

‘In India, kids need someone to look up to. They’ve got it in cricket: they have Tendulkar and others.’ – Ian Rush

‘One afternoon when I was 9, my dad told me I’d be skipping school the next day. Then we drove 12 hours from Melbourne to Sydney for the Centenary Test, a once-in-a-lifetime commemorative cricket match. It was great fun – especially for a kid who was a massive sports fan.’ – Hugh Jackman

‘I love England and I love cricket.’ – Kevin Pietersen

‘And I don’t watch cricket. How can you like a game that requires you to take four days off work to follow a Test?’ – Thierry Henry

‘We’ve just got to be careful – with all sports, let alone cricket – I think there’s so much emphasis on doing the right thing all the time, but I think the public want to be entertained when they come to watch sport.’ – Shane Warne

‘The IPL is just pure, intense. You don’t need all the other stuff. I don’t believe in coaches in international cricket.’ – Shane Warne

‘If you ask anyone around the cricket grounds, they will say I always sign loads of autographs and thank the ladies for lunch and try to behave in the right way.’ – Shane Warne

‘The problem is there’s still a big kid inside me who likes to have fun. I am passionate about my cricket and I love my family, but I’m also a kid and maybe I need to grow up… And maybe I don’t.’ – Shane Warne

‘My dad’s method in his madness was to try every sport and then observe what I liked. I played football, tennis, golf, cricket but I loved my snooker.’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan

‘I am amused by cricket because it seems to take longer than baseball and I like that. It seems like a sport I could have made up it – it takes several days to play and everyone wears sweaters. I can’t confess to knowing what’s going on at all.’ – John Hodgman

‘I didn’t have to play rugby that well, and I didn’t have to play cricket that well, because I had this voice.’ – Tom Jones

‘During my years of professional cricket in England, I realised that although the Australians were talented players, tactically they were a bit naive when compared to those who played full-time on the English circuit. You might find this arrogant, but that was the reality then.’ – Glenn Turner

‘As a kid in New Zealand, you play cricket in summer and rugby in winter. I played cricket and hockey. Not rugby. I wasn’t brawny enough for it. Or silly enough, perhaps.’ – Glenn Turner

‘I would love to play cricket today, with all – I am not just talking of money – the opportunity you get, the practice facilities, the amount of time you are able to put into preparation.’ – Glenn Turner

‘I think all versions of limited-overs cricket have attracted more people to the game.’ – Glenn Turner

‘I keep trying to bring a more professional approach to New Zealand cricket. It’s an uphill battle. I stay in the game because I find it intriguing and interesting. I’m not interested in coaching international sides. I don’t mind short-term coaching. I don’t want to get involved in the politics of teams.’ – Glenn Turner

‘I was good at football and cricket at school. My dad said, ‘Son, be an architect,’ and I came to Melbourne passionate about becoming an architect.’ – Max Walker

‘Norm Smith personally came and signed me up to the Melbourne Football Club. The fact that I then played cricket for Melbourne Cricket Club – the footy club didn’t like it that much.’ – Max Walker

‘I practised as an architect for 10 years. I qualified in 1973 with a fellowship diploma of architecture. World Series Cricket gave me the freedom to go out and pursue architecture.’ – Max Walker

‘Twenty20 is cricket on speed. In an era of hectic lifestyles and falling attention spans, it gives spectators more drama and intensity in three hours that they would get from a whole-day match. And even though it is a heady cocktail of money, entertainment and media, at its core it is cricket.’ – Vikas Swarup

‘India may be the soul of world cricket, but IPL is its commercial heart. Just as ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ changed the ground rules for quiz shows by injecting a massive dose of money into the equation, IPL has changed the dynamics of the cricket economy.’ – Vikas Swarup

‘I’ve always played sport. I played rugby, I was involved in athletics, I played cricket… I’m an outdoors kind of guy.’ – Jai Courtney

‘You want a novel to tap as directly as possible into your most unspeakable preoccupations. And in America, in particular, cricket is pretty unspeakable.’ – Joseph O’Neill

‘I’m completely cricketed out. If I never have to write another word about cricket again, I’ll be a happy man.’ – Joseph O’Neill

‘I spent my first 10 years in the Commonwealth. I come from cricket, crumpets, cucumber sandwiches, the Queen.’ – Danielle de Niese

‘The era of playing aggressive cricket and to have the mid-on up is gone. You now try to read the mindset of a batsman.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I don’t study cricket too much. Whatever I have learned or experienced is through cricket I’ve played on the field, and whatever little I have watched.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I know when I’ve been playing a lot of golf it takes me a while to get back into cricket again. It’s not so much the different shape of the swings, more the fact that you are stationary when you hit a golf ball. In cricket you have to move forward or back, which is an instinctive timing thing.’ – Ricky Ponting

‘How much golf I actually play depends on whom you ask. My wife says I’m out there every day. If you ask me, the cricket is getting in the way of the golf.’ – Ricky Ponting

‘For a long time, television said, ‘We won’t cover cricket unless you pay us to cover it.’ Then they said, ‘OK, the next rights are sold for 55 million dollars. The next rights are sold for 612 million dollars.’ So, it’s a bit of a curve, that.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘I am a kid who played university cricket, so to be around international cricket is a blessing.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘To be a commentator, you must have a life outside cricket, too. If cricket is all that you know, then you would not be a great commentator.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘I always wanted to play cricket, and I have played competitive cricket to a fairly good level. I remember that my father used to come and watch me play. He used to love watching me play.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘Cricket is not a rational sport in India, and we go overboard.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘Conflict of interest and lack of transparency, though they are global features as we saw post-Iraq, almost define Indian cricket.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘Cricket cannot afford to throw up meaningless games before its benefactors, which is what spectators and television audiences are.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘For its health, cricket needs to look outward to the sharpest minds, to people who sustain and nurture brands and often take hard but necessary decisions. Cricket cannot be bound by cricketing minds alone.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘Cricket, like all sport, offers glory to few and a lifetime of it to even fewer. For the investment it demands, it offers short careers that end when people in other professions are starting to flourish.’ – Harsha Bhogle

‘Because I knew I had got success at Ranji level, I was confident I would get some success in international cricket too.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I think a captain is someone who captains on the cricket field but, most of the leadership that happens is off the cricket field. It’s very easy to captain people on the cricket field, but if you can start leading them off the cricket field, and show them that trust, what you have in them.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I think that a leader is someone that needs to make an impact on, off the cricket field and in their lives as well.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I think the only time I show my emotions and anger is on the cricket field; otherwise, I’ve mellowed down. And with age, I think, with age you always end up mellowing down.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘The face of the team are the people who’re playing on the cricket field. The team is not about one individual.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘It used to hurt me that people thought I didn’t have the technique and the temperament to play Test cricket.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘You cannot keep doing the same things. According to the situation, your role changes in one-day cricket, especially in a phase like the Powerplay. If I bowl four spells, four times I will be playing a different role.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘My son has taken liking for sports and is most of the time playing cricket and football. It is so much fun being with them, as I’m enjoying every phase of motherhood.’ – Karisma Kapoor

‘My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity and it was about upholding the spirit of the game. I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘I was lucky in my early years to play for a Karnataka team that was trying to forge itself into a strong side, and they were years of fun and learning. In the Indian team, I was fortunate to be part of a wonderful era when India played some of its finest cricket at home and abroad.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘I was given a talent to play cricket. I don’t know why I was given it. But I was. I owe it to all those who wish it had been them to give of my best, every day.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘There are fans of Twenty20 cricket, and we need to ensure that we give them the cricket they want to see. We need to keep Test cricket alive, because there is a section of fans who love and worship Test cricket and have basically helped this game grow, and they are as important as anybody else.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘In a cricket career, your life is in some ways controlled for you. You have no control over schedules, you have no control about where you want to play, you don’t have control over that as a cricketer.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘There is an element of mystique to radio, and I often listen to cricket commentary on radio, especially when one is stuck in a traffic jam.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘I thought about cricket a lot. I needed to get out of this bubble of mine. I found it in books and conversations with other people about other things. I was a curious person, and this was my release. I like being challenged intellectually. I hated at the end of the day to talk cricket to someone else.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘Cricket is just something that I am good at, just like various people are good at various things. What’s lucky is that cricket gets enormous publicity.’ – Rahul Dravid

‘At the international level, one has to keep working hard and develop new skills. International cricket is all about improving yourself.’ – Suresh Raina

‘I have time only for cricket, and when I am not playing, I love to be at home, chat with my family, do puja with them, call for some yummy paani puri, etc. Also I love to cook. I can make dal, sabji and chicken! But, at home everybody’s a vegetarian, so I can’t cook non-veg at home!’ – Suresh Raina

‘Test cricket is the only thing that counts. One-day and T20 performances are fine, but you rate a player by his status as a Test player. By the time I finish, I want to play at least 80 Tests and be known for my achievements in Tests.’ – Suresh Raina

‘What is important for me is playing cricket and not thinking about how my Test career is shaping up. I am not into future planning and all. I am concerned about my present and not the future.’ – Suresh Raina

‘My aim is to play Test matches. For me, there is a different feel of Test cricket as it tests your character. You come to know about your mental toughness, and most importantly, there is another level of satisfaction as a player.’ – Suresh Raina

‘My job is to perform, enjoy cricket and thank God for whatever he has given me.’ – Suresh Raina

‘As an international batsman, I have to come out to bat under any situation. Sometimes a platform has been laid; on others, we have to build one. That’s part of our job, and that’s why international cricket is so challenging.’ – Suresh Raina

‘I used to practice at the hockey ground on synthetic surface while I was in the sports hostel, so Test cricket is certainly going to be a challenge for me.’ – Suresh Raina

‘By the time I was a young man, I lived with two deep struggles: I longed to become a cricketer, and I performed miserably in school. Cricket and tennis were all that I lived for. In India, this was a formula for failure.’ – Ravi Zacharias

‘I love to watch movies and play cricket.’ – Riteish Deshmukh

‘Cricket pays well, so a lot of people are naturally drawn towards the game. But to carve a niche in non-cricket sports is not easy. So state governments need to be proactive. Indians need to be made aware of the power of an Olympic medal. It should be treated at par with an Oscars or a Nobel Prize.’ – Gagan Narang

‘To compare Olympic sport with cricket would not be fair. Years back, cricket was a sport only for the classes, and we will also have to make other sports masses from classes like cricket.’ – Gagan Narang

‘People need to take as much interest in other sports as they take in cricket, and that’s where we come across a vicious cycle of performance, sponsorship, recognition, jobs and TV visibility. It’s a typical chicken-and-egg story; each one is directly related to the other without an answer for what comes first.’ – Gagan Narang

‘The only thing I’ve ever been interested in teaching anyone in life is cricket.’ – Peter O’Toole

‘Any captain can only do his best for the team and for cricket. When you are winning, you are a hero. Lose, and the backslappers fade away.’ – Richie Benaud

‘I wasn’t sure of the exact mindset you should have when you go into a Test match. So I probably became too defensive when I played my first Test match. Short balls in one-day cricket, I have never thought of just defending.’ – Virat Kohli

‘My priority is cricket. Everything that I get apart from it is a result of the effort on the field. Everything else follows. I am pretty aware of my priorities, and I don’t really focus on things that are not as important to me as cricket.’ – Virat Kohli

‘I am very happy playing and showing off my talent on the cricket field and have no plans to enter Bollywood.’ – Virat Kohli

‘I’ve never fought with anyone. A lot of people talk to me, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you would have been fighting all the time when you were younger,’ but I’m like, ‘I never fought with anyone because I always knew that if I hurt myself, I might lose important time in my cricket career,’ so I never got into any fight, ever in my life.’ – Virat Kohli

‘Baseball is like cricket, and I grew up in a country where they had cricket. So I understand cricket, soccer and basketball. I played basketball at the club level and a little bit in college, so that’s why I’m a basketball fanatic.’ – Patrick Soon-Shiong

‘Everyone who moves to New York City has a book or movie or song that epitomizes the place for them. For me, it’s ‘The Cricket in Times Square’, written by George Selden and illustrated by Garth Williams.’ – Cathleen Schine

‘It was a personal decision for me to stand and say that cricket is all I have in life, there’s nothing I need to do other than cricket. If I want to achieve whatever I thought as a kid, I need to work hard and not let it go to waste.’ – Virat Kohli

‘I don’t really focus on these things – on what tags are given to me or what people think of me off the field – stuff like that. My main focus is always to do well on the field for the Indian cricket team. When people say good things about me off the field, I am more than happy to accept them.’ – Virat Kohli

‘I have made a few mistakes early on that I admit myself, and there have been times when I have gone over the top and done things that you shouldn’t do in international cricket, but that’s how you learn.’ – Virat Kohli

‘In the game of cricket, a hero is a person who respects the game and does not corrupt the game. The one who doesn’t or corrupts the game, they are the villain. They should be punished, and they have been punished in the past.’ – Virat Kohli

‘In cricket, my superhero is Sachin Tendulkar. He has always been my hero and will continue to remain so. Apart from him and outside cricket, my mother has remained my inspiration. Whatever difficult time I had faced, she was always there for me. She has given me all the strength. She maintained her composure and supported me in tough times.’ – Virat Kohli

‘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.’ – Yuvraj Singh

‘I have stopped having goals. If you have many goals, and you don’t reach your goals, it is very upsetting, so I just think of keeping it simple, working hard and going and playing the game. But I know there are going to be very important series for Indian cricket. I will just try my best to be in my fittest form.’ – Yuvraj Singh

‘No matter what people say, about what I did, about what I am like… They say you are not dedicated or hardworking. A lot of people say things about me, but they don’t realise I have played 250 games. It’s not like you just land up in the team, sit down and play 250 games. You can’t survive like that in international cricket.’ – Yuvraj Singh

‘When I was a kid, I used to try and hit every ball out of the ground. After playing one-day cricket and Test cricket, I never thought I’d get a chance to play like that again, ever. Twenty20 has given me the opportunity of playing like a kid again. I can just feel free and go out there and hit.’ – Yuvraj Singh

‘Cricket is my life. Before the cancer, I was happy-go-lucky. I used to think about my career and worry about the future. But post it, my thinking has completely changed. I’m happy to eat and breathe normally. I’m happy to have my life back.’ – Yuvraj Singh

‘I am obsessed with cricket. But to be honest, I prefer the IPL format to test matches.’ – Shilpa Shetty

‘As a test cricket lover, and as a cricket lover, I like all forms of the game.’ – Cyrus Broacha

‘Every night, I say goodnight to the kids like Rajesh Khanna, muah muah, two kisses, say goodnight to my wife, and every night, I’d go to the recreation room and watch cricket with two old men.’ – Cyrus Broacha

‘I have this magpie instinct for the next glittering object. There are one or two things I know I can’t write about, though: DIY, cricket, automobile repair. I could study it for a lifetime and not produce a word on the carburettor.’ – Simon Schama

‘I was complexed and awkward that I was good for nothing and was always lying. I would lie to my school friends that I was a stud in my colony and to my colony friends that I was a stud in the school cricket and football teams, though I was in no team.’ – Imtiaz Ali

‘I moved to cricket at a time when I was at the peak of my career, and I can guarantee you that no one else from Bollywood would have done that.’ – Preity Zinta

‘Two things in India are religion – one is cricket, and one is movies – these are two things.’ – Preity Zinta

‘Yes, you have to be brave enough to take steps that your heart is telling you to take. Because when I decided to go into cricket, not one person told me I was making the right move. At that time, nobody thought the IPL would become so big. I was nervous at that time, because suddenly I was in an uncomfortable spot.’ – Preity Zinta

‘For reasons that baffle me still, my high school sports coaches put me in the first division of the rugby, cricket, and soccer teams.’ – Hamish Bowles

‘Well, all cricket invites attention.’ – Nita Ambani

‘Try and understand: cricket was played by Commonwealth countries only; now it has started in other countries as well, and I am proud of that.’ – Kapil Dev

‘I, as a cricketer, would like to see 100 counties playing top-flight cricket, just like tennis and football. If I am alive to see that, I will be very happy.’ – Kapil Dev

‘If I can teach cricket overseas, why wouldn’t I do so in my own country?’ – Kapil Dev

‘No cricket should be played for at least a month anywhere in the world after a World Cup.’ – Kapil Dev

‘I have played cricket on my own terms.’ – Kapil Dev

‘Certain cricketers are meant to play Test cricket.’ – Kapil Dev

‘Selectors can’t please everyone, but I am OK if they are working for the benefit of Indian cricket. It’s an administrative decision to appoint a selection committee, and I would like to let them do their job.’ – Kapil Dev

‘My best wishes are with Indian cricket in general. I wish each one of our cricketers success at the international and domestic level.’ – Kapil Dev

‘When I was a boy, cricket was very, very English. Anyone who spoke English and anyone from a big town could play. And that was it.’ – Kapil Dev

‘I feel that World Cup cricket should be played like football in which all the 160 countries take part. If only a handful of countries are going to keep on playing in the World Cup without making the game popular, I will be a sad man.’ – Kapil Dev

‘Test cricket is a different sort of cricket altogether. Some players who are good for one-day cricket may be a handicap in a Test match.’ – Kapil Dev

‘The West Indians and Pakistanis play one-day cricket so well because they play for English counties.’ – Kapil Dev

‘Cricket has become more popular, not me… When the game grows, those who’ve played it also ‘grow.” – Kapil Dev

‘If you play cricket for India, money is bound to come, and with IPL in and match money of the Ranjhi trophy, I think money is there. There’s no good reason why you should not work hard, because at the end of the day, you want to play for your country.’ – MS Dhoni

‘One of my theories is to be captain on the field and off the field, you need to totally enjoy each other’s company. I don’t like discussing cricket off the field.’ – MS Dhoni

‘Since childhood, I have been a cricket fanatic.’ – Ben Elliot

‘In summer, my Sundays are often taken up with cricket. I play with a bunch of other over-competitive and overenthusiastic guys who I have known for a very long time.’ – Ben Elliot

‘The only thing I won’t watch is darts. And I don’t watch cricket. How can you like a game that requires you to take four days off work to follow a Test? And I don’t really like golf. I know a lot of English footballers play, but I know that if I go with the club to play, sooner or later I will end up trying to smash the ball with my foot.’ – Thierry Henry

‘Baseball grew rapidly in favor; the field was ripe. America needed a live outdoor sport, and this game exactly suited the national temperament. It required all the manly qualities of activity, endurance, pluck, and skill peculiar to cricket, and was immeasurably superior to that game in exciting features.’ – John Montgomery Ward

‘I am very emotional. It took me many years to recover from the death of my father. Even when I was playing cricket, I wasn’t happy. I would just sit and cry. I was very young. He was too young; he shouldn’t have gone. Cricket is all right. We all play sport. Good and bad days come.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘Not just cricket, we are doing clothing for football, hockey etc. It’s basic stuff, but good designing is what I am looking to do.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘I do not play golf regularly, but I feel that hitting the moving ball in cricket is tougher than hitting a stationary ball as in golf, which requires more concentration and steady hands.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘Cricket is my passion; it is my first love. So I will not act in my movies, as they will just be a side business for me.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘I am just enjoying what cricket has given me. In sports, it’s obviously really important for all of us to remain fit – and health is wealth, so health comes with the sport.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘According to the situation, your role changes in one-day cricket, especially in a phase like the Powerplay. If I bowl four spells, four times I will be playing a different role. If I come in the first Powerplay, and say the opposition are 70 for no loss after 10 overs, I will be looking to take a wicket.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘For a spinner growing up in England, it is challenging to become an off-spinner. The line and length needs to be altered on each of the four days of county cricket or five days of Test matches. The pitches in England don’t have a set pattern. It changes with each day, and accordingly, the length varies.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘I have entered the sports equipment business with ‘Bhajji Sports.’ I am applying for ICC clearance so that cricket bats with ‘Bhajji Sports’ logos could be used for international matches. In domestic circuit, the Punjab team is already wearing Bhajji Sports dresses for the Ranji Trophy matches.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘I just don’t know the art of making friends with girls. And that’s the reason why I’ve never had a single girl as a friend. Also, I’m so engrossed in cricket that I’ve never found an opportunity to interact with girls very closely. In a way, it’s better, as my mind doesn’t get diverted!’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘I think cricket is there in Usain Bolt’s blood. Since I got to watch from close quarters, it was amazing to see him run up to bowl. The perfect delivery stride is understandable because he is a world champion athlete. But the manner – he loaded at the crease and then bowled the ball – left me zapped. He looked like a natural cricketer.’ – Harbhajan Singh

‘My father, whose hobby was collecting secondhand cricket books, came back from a book fair one day with a copy of ‘The Body In The Library.” – Sophie Hannah

‘The thing about darts is that you’ve got to shout. It’s not like cricket where you can talk to Michael Atherton and ask him to analyse the bloody nuances. Darts does not have nuances. You’ve got to hurl yourself at it.’ – Sid Waddell

‘I wrote ‘The Match,’ my cricket novel, between 2002 and 2005. In retrospect, almost an age of innocence in cricket and a time when it was rare to find the game deep in fiction.’ – Romesh Gunesekera

‘Sure, cricket on a beach on the isle of Jura is different from a Test match in a stadium in Galle, 6000 miles away, despite the sea air.’ – Romesh Gunesekera

‘Cricket fans all over the world probably have more in common with each other than with their fellow citizens.’ – Romesh Gunesekera

‘The most appealing side-effect of Sri Lankan cricket from where I stand, shuffling words, has been linguistic.’ – Romesh Gunesekera

‘While I am most at home in London, I cannot really label myself as either British or Trinidadian. I write in the English language and live in the U.K. I find it hard to say that I am an entirely British writer, especially when I supported Trinidad in the 2006 World Cup and also support the West Indies cricket team.’ – Monique Roffey

‘The Pakistan Cricket Board is a long-standing joke, its chairmen replaced with every change of government.’ – Tariq Ali

‘I support Leeds United, and like any fan, I dreamed of playing for them. I tried out at the club and also tried rugby and cricket, and triathlon didn’t really become part of my life until I was 16 or 17 – but it was the sport I enjoyed most.’ – Jonathan Brownlee

‘My childhood was a happy one. I was captain of the school sports team and played cricket after class. I had five younger siblings and a large loving family that lived together. We are still very close.’ – Naeem Khan

‘One of the things that I miss the most about cricket and batting in particular is that meditation of cricket, that involvement of myself – mind, body and spirit – to delivering that one specific process, which is to execute a cricket shot. It is a beautiful feeling; it is very hard to replicate.’ – Matthew Hayden

‘I played rugby in the winter, cricket in the summer, and for a brief period was on the books at Cardiff City. Athletics was only sports day for me. In fact, I never really liked it. I was never too keen on a sport that didn’t have a ball at your feet.’ – Lynn Davies

‘I used to play a lot of tennis-ball cricket.’ – MS Dhoni

‘If you are good at studies, and you want to play cricket, you may work harder than any other person, but you may not achieve it. So it’s something you have to balance in life and be practical where you are good and then channelise your efforts in the right direction to be successful in life.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I did play other sports growing up. I played cricket and all those other things, but I was just so much more talented in golf, and that’s all I wanted to do.’ – Jason Day

‘I used to get up at five in the morning and play cricket.’ – Harold Pinter

‘Drama happens in big cricket matches. But also in small cricket matches.’ – Harold Pinter

‘Cricket, the whole thing, playing, watching, being part of the Gaieties, has been a central feature of my life.’ – Harold Pinter

‘Cricketers have a very short shelf life. On an average, you make money through cricket for five years, but you need to survive for sixty years.’ – MS Dhoni

‘A lot of things have changed since I made my debut in 2004. The way cricket is played has changed. The kind of players that are coming in the Indian team are drastically different than what we were used to. My role is quite the same. You only evolve with time, and that’s what I am trying to do.’ – MS Dhoni

‘Winning the World Cup was very special because it meant so much to so many. One thing about our country that is constant is cricket. The smile it brought to people’s faces was the thing I shall always remember. It reminded me, reminded all of us, of our importance to the lives of the Indian people less lucky than we are.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I am always the one who is responsible for anything bad that happens in Indian cricket. Everything that happens is because of me.’ – MS Dhoni

‘If a politician is a successful administrator, certainly he has got every right to administer cricket.’ – Sharad Pawar

‘Indian cricketers need more exposure, and as cricket administrators, we need to beef up the domestic circuit. Only then will fresh talent come up.’ – Sharad Pawar

‘I feel proud when a player from Jammu and Kashmir plays for India. This shows cricket has reached all corners of the country.’ – Sharad Pawar

‘I want to improve cricket at the district level because lot of hardworking players come from districts. We have produced so many great players, but now we don’t have players in the Indian team. My intention is to work hard for the game of cricket.’ – Mohammad Azharuddin

‘You need to protect the best players in the country. When there is so much cricket, we must work on ways to prolong their careers.’ – Mohammad Azharuddin

‘My uncle used to play cricket. I got used to the game at home. As kids we used to all wonder seeing the bats lying around the house. As we grew older, we realised what the game was all about, and then our interest in the game grew.’ – Mohammad Azharuddin

‘I think Bollywood and cricket go hand in hand. Glamour attracts glamour. Cricket has become a very glamorous game now.’ – Mohammad Azharuddin

‘Cricket has given me everything. If I’m anything today, it is because of the game… where I have given blood, sweat, and tears.’ – Mohammad Azharuddin

‘Cricket was a splendid chapter of my life; indeed, it made me what I am today. However, cricket alone isn’t the only flavour of life. Sometimes, indeed, we tend to take sports too seriously and life too casually.’ – Mohammad Azharuddin

‘When I was young, I was supposed to study in the afternoon, and 4 – 5:30 P.M. was playtime. The entire day would revolve around that time. We would play anything – kabaddi, cricket. Those one and half hours would feel like 5 minutes.’ – Sushant Singh Rajput

‘I have always been a movie buff and had no interest in any games and sports. I do not even watch cricket, which is one of the favourite games of most of my friends. However, I have become a wrestling fan after ‘Dangal.” – Fatima Sana Shaikh

‘Indian cricket fans are manic-depressive in their treatment of their favorite teams. They elevate players to god-like status when their team performs well, ignoring obvious weaknesses; but when it loses, as any team must, the fall is equally steep, and every weakness is dissected.’ – Raghuram Rajan

‘There’s a voice inside children that knows right from wrong. I call it listening to your inner Jiminy Cricket. I tell my daughter, ‘If you’re thinking this is not the best idea, it probably isn’t.” – Diane Lane

‘I believe that the ability to talk to people and have them feeling engaged rather than patronised isn’t something you can learn. It’s a bit like being able to sing or play cricket. You can either do it, or you can’t.’ – Nigel Farage

‘I’ve always been the outsider. I’ve always been regarded as some extraordinarily dangerous figure. I’m none of those things! I’m just a middle-class boy from Kent who likes cricket and who happened to have a strong view about a supernational government from Brussels.’ – Nigel Farage

‘I’d love to tell you that everyone who voted Brexit felt like me about the country, about the Union Jack and the cricket team. But I don’t think that there’s as much romanticism in it, perhaps, as people think.’ – Nigel Farage

‘I’d love to see pitches start very dry all over the world, which is good for batting but means there will be turn – a cricket match without spinners is like a chess match without two important pieces – a less interesting game.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘Unlike cricket, where I reached the top solely down to my own efforts, cancer was not a one-man battle. This time, I couldn’t have done it on my own. Without the support and bullying encouragement of my wife Rachael, I would not be here now.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘A lot of wasted energy in my life has been spent on sorting out problems and issues at Yorkshire cricket. Of course, I know I made mistakes along the way, but I care passionately about the club – I always have done and always will.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘Throughout Yorkshire’s history, the committee had not been known for its visionary approach. They just assumed that because Yorkshire had been fantastic in the past, and the county was full of kids wanting to play cricket, everything would be okay.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘I was not a political animal; I could not toady up to the committee men, pour drinks down their necks at the bar, and make them feel important. I was too focused on the cricket.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘The difference between a score in the 90s and a century is often reflected as the difference between failure and success. It may be illogical, but in cricket, a century has its own magic.’ – Geoffrey Boycott

‘Growing up, dad coached my footy and cricket teams, but that’s all he could do for me.’ – Adam Elliott

‘Just like how you find players from different backgrounds in Indian cricket team, our Telugu industry is looking for talent, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from.’ – Harshvardhan Rane

‘Just as I have broken the monopoly of film music as being synonymous with popular music in our country, I want to prove that cricket is not the only glamorous sport.’ – Yo Yo Honey Singh

‘We want to take boxing to the level of cricket.’ – Yo Yo Honey Singh

‘I used to play rugby, polo, tennis, and cricket in school. It was only in the 1990s, when I used to live just opposite Harrods in London, that I started putting on weight. I used to have my breakfast there every day.’ – Adnan Sami

‘If a youngster can come up to me and share his problems or share his experiences or share something that he does off cricket, that can obviously help you build a better relation with one-on-one, and that can help you captain him on the cricket field.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘When I got dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn’t want to play anymore. I didn’t want to practise. I couldn’t motivate myself. Then I said, ‘Look what are the options?’ Cricket is the only option. Whether I play happily or sadly, it’s still all I have. There are not a lot of things I am good at.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘White ball cricket can be taxing on bowlers and can be a distraction for a youngster, too.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘You need different skills to do well in 50-overs cricket. You need completely different skills to do well in Test cricket. You need different skills to do well in T20 cricket. It is not the same.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I don’t enjoy cricket. I just take it as a priority… something that I have to do.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I am very insecure because that’s how I have played cricket. Since Under-14, I was told, ‘If you don’t perform, you will be dropped.’ I have started living with this system.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I have always maintained that bowlers win you a cricket match whatever the format.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I have never played cricket for selfish reasons like scoring 800-900 runs on flat tracks to make a comeback.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘Youngsters getting hooked to IPL is a dangerous sign for Indian cricket.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I’ve played my whole life for Delhi; I know what is good or bad for Delhi cricket.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘Ultimately, DDCA is there to promote Delhi cricket. They are not there to promote themselves or set agendas. The primary job of DDCA is to look after cricket, see where Delhi cricket is going at all levels.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘If there is hockey or football and cricket on my television, I prefer to watch hockey.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘India should not have any ties with Pakistan, be it Bollywood or cricket. I am shocked that Bollywood is saying that cricket and movies should be kept ahead of national sentiments.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘National interest is above anything else. Just because you sit in an air-conditioned room, you can say you shouldn’t relate cricket and movies to politics. Ask anyone who has lost a family member to terror attacks, and you will get your answer.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘There should be no cricket and Bollywood ties with Pakistan till Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘I never thought of starting a cricket academy because every second person is starting a cricket academy.’ – Gautam Gambhir

‘When I was growing up, I played a lot of ten- and 12-over games, and I would bat in the middle order. I got only ten-odd balls to face, and I tried to score as much as I could. I applied the same approach in domestic and international cricket, and people were appreciating my strike rate being more than 80 or 90 in Test cricket.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘When I began my life journey, we’d survive on Rs 500 a month as a family. As time passed and I started playing for the country, this Rs 500 multiplied manifold, but it was not the money that mattered: it was the fact that I was fulfilling my ambition of playing cricket on the highest platform, representing my country.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘When you start the game, coaches will tell you to do stuff in a particular way, and kids do that. But the moment you start first-class cricket, the coach needs to tell you, ‘Try this, try that,’ instead of, ‘Do this, do that.’ If you feel comfortable, you can take it; otherwise, leave it.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I was a middle-order batsman who was too good against spin and hit sixes consistently in Under-19 and Ranji cricket, and I still have the same confidence.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘Whenever I have played a game of cricket, whether it is under-16, under-19, or State level, my approach has been the same.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘In international cricket, the atmosphere changes, and the interest level is higher, but for a cricketer, it is still a game he has to play.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘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.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘Does it make a difference if I score 8000 or 10,000 runs in Test cricket? Not in anybody’s life.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I never thought of coaching the Indian cricket team. I was given the offer… BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhury and MV Sridhar came to me and requested me to think on the offer. I took my time and then applied for the position.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘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?’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I don’t think it’s correct to blame the captain. He at least tries to keep all together so that the team plays well, plays positive cricket, and wins the match for the country, and not think about only winning and earning a name for himself.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘Playing for India was a memorable journey, and I tried to make it more memorable for my team mates and the Indian cricket fans. I believe that I was reasonably successful in doing so.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I would like to thank all my captains who believed in me and backed me to the hilt. I also thank our greatest partner, the Indian cricket fan, for all the love, support, and memories.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘I have lived my dream and played at the finest of cricket grounds across the globe, and I want to thank the groundsmen, clubs, associations, and everyone who painstakingly prepare the arena for our performances.’ – Virender Sehwag

‘By starting a wrestling league, I hope to provide for wrestling the kind of visible and glamorous platform that the IPL has given to cricket.’ – Sangram Singh

‘Unfortunately, wrestling in India doesn’t have the same appeal for the youth that cricket and football do. For this reason, I want to also begin a series of wrestling academies across the country.’ – Sangram Singh

‘If cricket can be so glamorous and lucrative, I don’t see why wrestling should lag behind.’ – Sangram Singh

‘For too long now, cricket has got all the attention and money. Look at how much financial help cricket gets from the sports federations.’ – Sangram Singh

‘We, as a nation, have always worshipped cricket and cricket players, and even football. But kabaddi and kushti are seen fit only for villagers. That’s changing now.’ – Sangram Singh

‘If reality TV is bad, so is Colosseum, so are the gladiators, so are sports. I think cricket is bad. But that’s a point of view.’ – Kamal Haasan

‘In international cricket, the core group in most of the teams would remain same. So you know what’s expected, but they will operate in different conditions, which is why the homework about conditions is the key.’ – Rohit Sharma

‘Nothing happens in cricket, ever. Even the highlights resemble a freeze frame.’ – Charlie Brooker

‘There is a growing interest in team ownership and promoting sports beyond cricket in India. I always felt it is important to encourage other sports, especially those that bring communities together and promote active lifestyles to Indian youth.’ – Anand Mahindra

‘For any sport to be sustainable, it cannot survive on government or corporate grants alone. The sporting ecosystem needs more investments from businesses, and businesses need to see the returns from their investment in sport. Cricket has achieved that distinction, but I feel a country of a billion-plus people cannot remain captive to one sport.’ – Anand Mahindra

‘I wish I was a great cricket player, but I am not.’ – Punit Renjen

‘I seldom watch TV, but I often get caught up in cricket no matter what time they are on.’ – Dinesh Paliwal

‘My grandmother was whip smart as well as an incredible athlete. She played tennis in her sari, cheered on the Indian team in cricket matches, and tried to convince us that her made-up words were real so she could win a Scrabble game.’ – Pramila Jayapal

‘I’m delighted to have signed for such an ambitious club as Hampshire. I’m very much looking forward to my first taste of county cricket. It’s also an honour to follow other Bajans like Malcolm Marshall and Gordon Greenidge to Hampshire.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘I have some goals I’m looking to achieve, and one thing is to help the team win and move back up the ladder. This is vitally important to the team overall and to the supporters of West Indies cricket.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘For me, David Warner isn’t just the future of Australian batting, he’s the future for cricket in general because he can excel in any form of the game. I’m excited just watching him.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘I played cricket at primary school but hardly at all at high school. I was more of a footballer.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘Test cricket should be No. 1 for every cricketer.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘In Twenty20s, you have to bowl a lot fuller, especially at the death, and you’ve got to be mindful of what you’re doing. But it’s still cricket.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘I love to play Test cricket; it’s the main cricket.’ – Fidel Edwards

‘The cricket star, like everyone else, should have an intelligent understanding of the crisis of the nation-state and the marginalisation of small communities within the global economy.’ – Hilary Beckles

‘West Indian people had made their greatest single cultural investment in cricket.’ – Hilary Beckles

‘My whole obligation was to West Indies cricket. As I have always said, I have never made a run for me. Records meant nothing. The team was important.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘West Indian cricket means so much to people who live here. And when we’re not doing well, we all feel it.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘When I played cricket for the West Indies, I never worried. I never really watched anyone else. I had a job to do, and I tried to do it to the best of my ability.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘If you are going to raise youngsters for Test cricket that don’t have the experience, you can’t stick them into T20. You’ve got to teach them first how to play Test cricket, and when they’re good enough for Test cricket and if they want to play both formats, then they can.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘I enjoyed playing any type of cricket. Didn’t matter what type it was because I did not want to change my game. My game was built on one type of cricket: if there was a ball to hit, you hit it, whether it was Test matches, whatever it was.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘I don’t think cricket is a game that people who have never played or been involved in understand the excitement. It’s a game that is full of excitement, because cricket lovers follow the game and understand the basic principles and rules. They become connoisseurs of the game.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘One of the things about the six sixes, which really comes over me every time somebody asks a question or says to me, ‘I’ve just seen them,’ or people always ask me about it… It makes me feel that’s the only thing I’ve ever done in the history of cricket.’ – Garfield Sobers

‘My whole obligation was to West Indies cricket. As I have always said, ‘I have never made a run for me.” – Garfield Sobers

‘MMA, cricket, or anything, you cannot just coast. Every day, you have to wake up hungry.’ – Jinder Mahal

‘I have a lot of friends in the Australian cricket team, and they have told me a lot about India. Brett Lee was telling me about the food and Bollywood. I am the kind of person who likes to embrace the culture of a place, and I really want to travel and see the various temples around the country.’ – Timothy F. Cahill

‘I love cricket. My all-time favourite is Sachin Tendulkar, without a shadow of a doubt.’ – Timothy F. Cahill

‘Let me tell you, it is an absolute lie that I told a probe panel that Meiyappan was only a cricket enthusiast. All I said is he had nothing to do with the team’s on-field cricketing decisions. I can’t even pronounce the word ‘enthusiast.” – MS Dhoni

‘Please criticize me, but how can you accuse me of something like fixing a cricket game after all that the game has given me.’ – MS Dhoni

‘My dad and my brother were more keen on football, but I used to play canvas-ball cricket while at school in Ranchi, and we would have cricket coaching camps in the summer vacations. That’s how I started.’ – MS Dhoni

‘Till the 10th standard, I was quite good – I got 66% that year. After my 10th, I got really involved with cricket, so I didn’t have any time to study. And my parents didn’t push me, either, which was very good for me.’ – MS Dhoni

‘We have to understand that the five-day format has its own uncertainties, unlike ODIs or T20s. In ODIs, you know that you have to field for 50 overs only, while in Test cricket, there may be a situation that a team might bat for one-and-a-half to two days.’ – MS Dhoni

‘One-day cricket is about aggression and flair, but Test cricket is a different ball game. One has to struggle through the hard periods initially and then look on to get a respectable score on the board.’ – MS Dhoni

‘In Test matches, you have to play consistent cricket for a period of time.’ – MS Dhoni

‘What’s more important is, rather than looking at it from a commercial point of view, what we have to make sure is, where there’s existence of the sport, it keeps on increasing there, and at the same time, you look at some of the other countries where there’s the prospect of playing cricket.’ – MS Dhoni

‘You have to see that cricket is developing as a sport because what’s very important is you want cricket to be a global sport when it comes to participation.’ – MS Dhoni

‘I know, in India, cricket is a religion, but I haven’t had the time to follow it.’ – Shilpa Shinde

‘Cricket, politics, and cinema is what a majority in our country are most passionate about. They have the power to divide the best of friends depending on which side you are on.’ – Vijay Deverakonda

‘My dad is a great cricket fan, and I used to play a bit back in Jamaica.’ – Donovan Bailey

‘The wrestling is real, all the injuries are real, so much so that in no other sports, whether soccer or cricket or hockey, players get so many injuries as in WWE.’ – The Great Khali

‘I looked up to cricket players such as Imran Khan.’ – Amir Khan

‘As a youngster, I really enjoyed watching cricket.’ – Kartik Aaryan

‘I used to play cricket every day till Class X but lost touch with it ever since.’ – Nani

‘I have always loved cricket since childhood.’ – Nani

‘We laud the women’s cricket team when they win accolades, but when a regular girl enjoys watching cricket, the men look at her and start testing her knowledge about the sport.’ – Nushrat Bharucha

‘Being a young parent, you can play cricket, football, and I can play chess with my son. In fact, he plays the piano better than I do.’ – Ayushmann Khurrana

‘I think cricket and cinema are two big entities in the country. If you are part of either, you are sorted.’ – Ayushmann Khurrana

‘I don’t watch cricket very much, but of course I enjoy whenever I see the sport, especially live, because of the energy in the stadium with the fans going crazy.’ – Nora Fatehi

‘When I don’t play international cricket, I sharpen my skills at the NCA.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I’m grown up enough to realise how to play cricket. I love the game.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I was a coach for a celebrity cricket league. Whenever I trained or practised with them, I missed cricket.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I concentrated on politics and movies because cricket was taken away from me. But the world knows Sreesanth as a cricketer, and I, too, like to be remembered as a cricketer who gave everything on the field.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I have a small and decent indoor cricket facility at home itself.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I was born in a small village in Kerala. From there, I went on to play for the Kerala state team and international test cricket for India, and now I am working in TV shows and cinema… Any miracle can happen.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘My work ethics have been the same whether it’s in international cricket, first class, or even club cricket.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I don’t mind which wicket you play on – wet, dry, slow, or fast. I just want to play cricket.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I play a lot of cricket. I just want to play, play, and play.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I want my bowling to speak for me. In fact, not only my bowling, my batting, my fielding. Overall, I want my cricket to speak.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘I love cricket and am the last person who would get involved in something like spot-fixing. Anyone who knows me will think twice before coming to me with such an offer. Because I don’t even listen to the captain before I play a match. I wouldn’t agree to do it even for Rs 100 crore.’ – S. Sreesanth

‘Growing up in Rochdale, I think, all the kids in my street, pretty much every boy was playing cricket. I had four brothers as well, and we played a lot together. When it was just me on my own, I was bowling at a drainpipe.’ – Sajid Javid

‘As a child, I was into cricket and boxing in school.’ – Rana Daggubati

”Kanaa’ is a rare opportunity; it’s about women’s cricket, and they’ve trusted me with this film. I trained for nearly four hours every day with three coaches.’ – Aishwarya Rajesh

‘My senior school didn’t play football. It was a rugby and cricket school, and as I was on a sports scholarship, I was forced to play rugby.’ – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

‘Cricket and tennis are very different skill sets, but I’ve played tennis all my life, so it’s a lot easier coming back than learning how to face a cricket ball for the first time.’ – Ashleigh Barty

‘I just think it’s great in cricket to come into a team environment. It’s the first time I’ve ever experienced it.’ – Ashleigh Barty

‘The cricket team has been great. There’s never a lonesome moment. If you are struggling, there are 10 girls who can help you out and get you through the tough times. We can enjoy the ups and downs together.’ – Ashleigh Barty

‘Like cricket has their ‘A’ team that plays against other international ‘A’ teams and get exposure. Hockey should also have a similar development squad, which can play in non-premium international tournament, while the national team plays in bigger meets. This way, we will have players ready with international exposure.’ – Sandeep Singh

‘I know everyone wants to see India winning on home soil, be it in hockey or cricket. But sometimes with expectations come pressure, which can affect our performance.’ – Sandeep Singh

‘I know hockey is not as popular as cricket in India, but I hope in future, every renowned hockey player should be given a fitting farewell rather than ignoring them.’ – Sandeep Singh

‘Cinema and cricket are two professions in this country that people have an opinion on.’ – Huma Qureshi

‘I was a bowler – left arm, smash it down as fast as I could. I did a lot of work with Damian D’Oliveira, and I probably had a chance of doing that for a living. But when I reached 16, I knew I couldn’t carry on playing both football and cricket, and I was already in the Shrewsbury squad.’ – Joe Hart

‘I love Messi. I also derive inspiration from the god of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.’ – Hima Das

‘Cricket came about for me when my dad started throwing plastic balls to me at home. I was four or five.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘I have learned a lot playing in domestic first-class cricket: how to score runs, how to counter situations.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘It is all about experience. When you are 7-8 years old, you start playing school cricket and score runs; my coaches, from school level to Rahul Dravid Sir now, all those small, small things – the experiences make a difference.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘I am very happy and proud – I played a lot of school cricket and scored heavily there, and then the Ranji Trophy, but when we represent India, it’s a different feeling.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘Dad played a very important role in my life. I always wanted to play cricket ,and my dream was his, too.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘I usually don’t get much free time. Cricket keeps me busy, and I like it that way.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘When I came to Under-19, I played a lot of cricket and got a lot of experience. Then India A as well, and Ranji Trophy – it just keeps going on.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘From a small age, we used to play a lot of school cricket: 30-35 games in a year in school cricket, then Under-16 games.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘My dad doesn’t know that much about cricket, but he has watched so many years of cricket.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘I began playing at the age of six, but at that point, I had little idea of cricket; forget the talent part. It’s around the age of 10-11, when more people around me began talking of my skills, that I felt maybe I could go on to do something.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘My father didn’t know about cricket. Then, one of my father’s friend advised him to take me to a coaching camp.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘They come with a lot of strategies in international cricket. You face bowlers with a lot more pace.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘Amit Mishra has got that experience. He has played 10-12 years of international cricket. Whenever he bowls those four overs, he knows exactly what his plans are. He has bowled to almost every player, and he knows where to bowl to them.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘To represent your country is the ultimate honour, and to play Test cricket for India will be the ultimate fulfilment of my cricketing ambition.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘Whenever you play international cricket, there is always a challenge.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘School cricket is where we all start. The journey of a cricketer starts from there, and it was the same for me.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘I made tons of runs and got an opportunity to play for Mumbai. Suddenly, people knew who I was, and the cameras were on me. Getting the recognition matters when you are playing school cricket.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘Tendulkar is my idol in cricket, and one thing I try to pick up from him is how he carries himself in a humble manner.’ – Prithvi Shaw

‘Of course, there are ups and downs in cricket always, but that’s how you learn. I am too young, and what I constantly do is learn from my seniors. They have been in tough situations, and they know how to tackle them. I just keep learning.’ – Rishabh Pant

‘I have so far enjoyed my preparation with red ball cricket. The Duke ball swings a lot when you’re here in England, and initially, when I started playing here with India A, I realized that the swing will come a lot into play in these conditions.’ – Rishabh Pant

‘In red ball cricket, with the field placements, you can look around, take your time, because you have five days to play, whereas in limited overs cricket, you have limited number of balls to play and score.’ – Rishabh Pant

‘Test match cricket – it’s the most boring thing to watch. How they call themselves sportsmen I’ll never know.’ – Joe Calzaghe

‘I am like the huge percentage of Indians who follow majorly cricket when it comes to sports.’ – Nikita Dutta

‘There has been a positive change with people being aware about women’s cricket of late. It’s still far from what it needs to be, but women are slowly getting the right recognition for this game.’ – Nikita Dutta

‘Once I failed in cricket, I joined a law course, but when it also did not work out, it was another setback. When you get back-to-back failures, you automatically start to work harder in life.’ – Aparshakti Khurana

‘Although I was good at my studies, I also thought to myself that I should play cricket as well. And when the cricket team that consisted of the boys from our village used to play, I was able to play with the team that had older players.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘I believe cricket suffered because of me. Fans were disheartened because of me. I want to make them happy and win them over again.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘What I had said was that as a cricketer, you have to take care of your body and look after your fitness levels, and someone altered that statement and quoted me as saying that I wanted to quit playing Test cricket. It’s totally untrue, and as long as I am fit, I want to play in all formats.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘I know people madly in love with cricket; they got hurt, and they now should trust me only because I want to give back their love for cricket by performing. I want them to trust me because they lost something because of me, and I want to give back with my whole heart and soul.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘Playing cricket in England is what I am looking forward to, and I would love to bowl at Lord’s again.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘I didn’t pick up a ball for three years. It was very depressing for me because, as a professional, it’s very difficult when you can’t use the facilities, play cricket; you can’t even touch the ball, so what are you going to do then?’ – Mohammad Amir

‘Pakistan fans are crazy about cricket.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘When my ban was relaxed I began playing club cricket. Imagine, for a person who had played at Lord’s, to play with a club team who didn’t have proper kit against another club team in Lahore.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘It has been an honour to represent Pakistan in the pinnacle and traditional format of the game. I, however, have decided to move away from the longer version so I can concentrate on white ball cricket.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘I want to thank all my team-mates as well as the opponents in red ball cricket. It has been a privilege to play with and against them.’ – Mohammad Amir

‘I’ll definitely play cricket again, but only socially. I’ve still got a lot of friends at my local team, Green Mount, and I do miss playing, but I don’t regret anything.’ – Phil Neville

‘I played for England at cricket and football. Playing at Wembley in front of 60,000 people seemed better than playing at Cirencester in front of my family and friends.’ – Phil Neville

‘I’m a bit undercooked when it comes to keeping in Test cricket, but I’ve had a lot of experience in T20 and ODIs for my country, and my keeping has improved a lot.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I will always be grateful to the coaches and staff of Cricket South Africa for their support through all these years.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I can’t keep playing 10-11 months a year and keep being sharp after 15 years of international cricket.’ – AB de Villiers

‘Money wasn’t the motivating factor in calling time on my international career and focusing on T20 cricket. If I was here to make as much money as I can, I would be playing 10 to 12 tournaments a year.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I was brought up to always see the glass half full instead of half empty and played my cricket that way.’ – AB de Villiers

‘Test cricket is the ultimate challenge.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I truly believe that players who tell you they don’t feel the pressure of international cricket, of being away from home for months at a time, are lying to everyone and themselves.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I know Test cricket is more about endurance. T20 is more about innovating, creating, and the energy at the wicket.’ – AB de Villiers

‘We all grow up dreaming of playing international cricket.’ – AB de Villiers

‘It’s important to make sure your players have the mindset that playing international cricket is still the ultimate form of cricket.’ – AB de Villiers

‘In my heart, international cricket is the way forward. That’s where you want to play; that’s where the pressure really lies. That’s where you make your name.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I have been massively proud to have played for and, indeed, captain my country on the cricket field.’ – AB de Villiers

‘Obviously, international cricket is the main cricket you want to play, especially Test cricket.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I’ll do whatever it takes for us to win games of cricket. If I have to sledge, I’ll get involved like that. I’ll try and intimidate a player if I have to.’ – AB de Villiers

‘For my part, I am not a great believer in bad luck on the cricket field, in business – in fact, in any walk of life.’ – AB de Villiers

‘I used to play tennis ball cricket quite a lot before playing serious cricket. Over there, you bowl yorkers. That could be the reason I bowl yorkers.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘In white-ball cricket, things are different – over there, you outsmart the batsman, and over here in Test cricket, it’s all about patience and consistency.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘I always wanted to play Test cricket, but people have only seen me in first-class cricket. I was always confident that, whenever I get a chance, I would be able to do well.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘Earlier, I only used to get the ball into right handers. Over the years, I have developed some variations, thanks to first-class cricket and IPL.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘I always loved Test cricket, and I rate it very highly.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘I enjoy playing each and every format, but for me, Test cricket is at the paramount level because I feel everything is tested at that level.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘As a kid, I was like anybody else, playing cricket, enjoying it. The only difference is, right from when I can remember, I always used to love bowling.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘Nowadays, with technology coming into cricket, people start to analyse, and if you only have one or two tricks, people will start to line you up.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘In four-day cricket, you have to be consistent; you have to bowl in one area.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘As I played a lot of tennis ball cricket, I used to watch Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis a lot.’ – Jasprit Bumrah

‘My favourite sport’s cricket and one of the key things in cricket is to know when to declare.’ – Andrew Neil

‘One-day cricket must be taken with equal importance to Test cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘When you play cricket for India, you are always under the scanner. You are always judged by others; you have to live up to it all.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘In 2000 I became captain and stayed till 2005, and this was a very successful time in Indian cricket, so it was a satisfying tenure for me.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘That happens on a cricket field. People have a go at each other. That’s fair, that’s fine. It’s called Test cricket. It’s not a day in the park.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘That’s why every cricketer wants to play international cricket. First of all you’re playing for your country, secondly there’s a lot of media attention and thirdly, for India, there is so much support for us, especially in England. So you know what you are doing is important, and that motivates you, helps you get going.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘I lost my captaincy after winning the series 2-0, and also getting a Test match 100. I never captained India after that. I couldn’t play one-day cricket in spite of being the best ODI player in the world at that time.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘IPL is pure sport. The glitz and glamour is just 15 per cent. 85% is actually professional, hard cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘Kohli is a huge addition to the side not just because of his batting but with his attitude as well. He lifts everyone on the field. There is so much passion in his cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘English conditions have changed over the years. Lots of runs are being scored in one-day cricket now in England, pitches are good for batting.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘No matter what, Test cricket will survive. I’ve always said Twenty20 would be popular but there will be a place for Test cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘When I first became captain of the Indian cricket team in 2000, many well-wishers and journalist friends gifted me the classic Mike Brearley book, ‘The Art of Captaincy.’ I mean no disrespect to the book or Mr, Brearley, who I admire a great deal, but books or team meetings don’t make you good captains.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘I was inspired by the way the Aussies played their cricket. It was no-holds barred. They played to win.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘Wrist spinners have been successful in world cricket. Look at Shane Warne.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘Kohli is a flag bearer of Indian cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘A strong India is very, very important for world cricket.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘I didn’t play an ODI game for 15 months when I was probably the best performer in one-day cricket. It happens in life. The best in the world are at times shown the door.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘Twenty20 is must for cricket. Without T20, cricket cannot survive.’ – Sourav Ganguly

‘Cricket isn’t the be all and end all. That doesn’t mean you put in less effort or don’t try as hard. You put everything into it, but at the end of the day there are bigger and better things.’ – Jos Buttler

‘It’s really important to have your escape away from cricket, whatever that is for the individual. I enjoy my time away from the game, that really refreshes me and lets me get excited for when I do go back in and play.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I enjoy fitness. I’ve always enjoyed trying to stay healthy. I’ve enjoyed all my gym work; obviously there’s a cross-over with that going into cricket. But you also talk of finding an escape and I think in the last year or so, running has provided me with that.’ – Jos Buttler

‘The first time I played Test cricket, I did OK because I had no real expectations, I was just going to enjoy it. Then I lost that.’ – Jos Buttler

‘India is such an attack on your senses and is unrivalled for the passion surrounding cricket.’ – Jos Buttler

‘Cricket takes so long. There’s a lot of airtime to fill. Guys have to talk about someone’s technique for half an hour.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I feel maybe at times I’ve just been a bit too desperate to do well, almost tried too hard. But even though I haven’t contributed as I would have liked, I’ve still enjoyed the cricket just as much.’ – Jos Buttler

‘Innovation grabs the attention. You go back through the history of cricket and there are certain moments in time that grab you. Kevin Pietersen’s flamingo shot was one of those.’ – Jos Buttler

‘Cricket has a stigma of old men in white clothes playing cricket but readdressing that image to people who aren’t necessarily cricket lovers may go some way to making it cooler.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I’ve been lucky, my wife’s been amazing. Any time we’ve had cricket matches she sends me to the spare room to get some sleep. She takes care of everything.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I sometimes like to do plyometric work which hits my core and the rest of my body at the same time: things like jumping to catch balls, box jumps, hurdling over cricket stumps, bounds, hops, or combined exercises like three jumps in a row followed by a sprint.’ – Jos Buttler

‘High-intensity training works well for cricket because we spend long periods waiting around and then have to perform sudden sprints or dives.’ – Jos Buttler

‘Whenever I have a problem, I always talk to someone away from cricket; usually a friend or a family member who is invested in wanting to help me but who won’t give me a coach’s perspective or a cricketer’s perspective.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I have learned a lot of interesting things about nutrition in my cricket career but the biggest lesson of all is to ensure your healthy eating habits are sustainable. The best way to eat healthily is to think of nutrition as a lifestyle, not as a diet.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I know that fitness helps me to be better at everything I do and to live my life in the best possible way, so it has become a genuine passion, even outside of cricket.’ – Jos Buttler

‘T20 in international cricket can almost be paid lip-service at times, with one game tagged on to the end of an ODI series or a long tour – sometimes it can feel like there is no point in playing it.’ – Jos Buttler

‘If you are going to introduce cricket to other countries then I think T20 is the format with which to do it – it’s a great entry level into the sport and easy to pick up.’ – Jos Buttler

‘Having played before and been dropped I think people will always remember that, so if I am ever going to play Tests again I will need to show improvements in red-ball cricket.’ – Jos Buttler

‘The game in T20 cricket moves so fast and guys are always putting you under pressure – you can have plans for the likes of Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell and try to execute them but they can then do the exact opposite of what you expect, especially Maxwell.’ – Jos Buttler

‘We want to inspire cricket fans and enhance their love for the game as well as bring new people and children into the fold and encourage them to pick up a bat.’ – Jos Buttler

‘It still feels like I am just playing with my mates a lot of the time. A lot of us in the England team have grown up playing cricket together and formed very close friendships, which makes the dressing room a very enjoyable place to be.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I’ve always felt that when I’ve been successful in red-ball cricket it has been because I’ve left the ball well and sometimes in cricket the shots you don’t play are more important than the ones you do.’ – Jos Buttler

‘I think Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai have very loyal fans. That’s the beauty of franchise cricket.’ – Dinesh Karthik

‘My dream is to play Test cricket.’ – Dinesh Karthik

‘The most important thing especially in domestic cricket is to enjoy each day there, be nice to people around you and never get frustrated.’ – Dinesh Karthik

‘Old Trafford – as a cricket ground, I love playing there. It’s a second home for me; I’ve been going there since I was young. It just feels right there.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘I like being out on the cricket field and performing and playing in front of a crowd. I find it quite tricky when there are press photographers outside my house. It’s all very bizarre.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘One of the reasons why you want to play cricket is to play in front of big crowds, and in India, it is the perfect place to do that. The atmosphere here is like no other place in the world. Having experienced it once, you want to keep coming back.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘I’ve been to a lot of places to play cricket, but cricket and training get in the way! In India, all you see is the hotel and the cricket ground.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘Cricket was deemed too posh where I came from, and I’d never have risked walking home through the estates in my whites. My club played some of the posh schools. I’d have the cheapest kit, but I loved those games. As soon as the posh lads opened their mouths and you heard their accents, the stakes were raised.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘I enjoy playing Test cricket, especially against India in India.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘We always gave one-day cricket respect as players, definitely.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘Throughout my career, in cricket and beyond, I’ve been incredibly lucky with my marriage. I met Rachael in 2002, and that was the year my England career kicked on. Everything started to click.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘It was two different worlds: my world – cricket, the dressing room and the lads. And then family. Even when they travelled with me, it wasn’t always easy to bridge the gap.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘The one thing we need to do to continue to maintain Test cricket as being special is cutting down the amount and make it a real occasion rather than playing one after another.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘Since leaving cricket, I’ve tried my hand at professional boxing, a live stage show, and working for TV. I’ve had some interesting experiences, including working with the former basketball player Dennis Rodman.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘Ambition is a funny thing. In cricket, as in many professions, it tends to take you on a journey away from where you started. That’s fine, maybe inevitable. But no one ever tells you that the biggest days aren’t always the best days. And the richest prizes aren’t the ones you remember.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘I thought my dream job was to play cricket.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘It was an old cricket coach who started calling me Fred – as in Flintstone. There are far worse things to be called in the dressing room.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘With the cricket, I knew what I was doing – to a degree.’ – Andrew Flintoff

‘I’m looking forward to the new challenge that playing T20 cricket in England will bring.’ – Babar Azam

‘I am trying to take my ODI confidence to Test cricket.’ – Babar Azam

‘I keep learning from my mistakes and take advice from my seniors Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq because I want to be better and better in Test cricket.’ – Babar Azam

‘I am the sole example of what the IRCA has done for Pakistan cricket.’ – Babar Azam

‘I only have a family pack; never really felt the need for abs or something like that because, to my mind, being fit in terms of cricket is far more important than anything.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘We all know just bowling won’t do in modern international cricket, and we have to contribute with the bat and as a fielder, too.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘T20 cricket is all about using variations, and timing has to be perfect.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘I am here to play cricket. No preferences at all. T20, ODI, Test – I just want to perform on every stage and prove my worth as a good bowler.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘It feels great that my performances in domestic cricket have been recognised.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘It always gives you pleasure when you score runs in Test cricket.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘When I started playing cricket, I knew that my physique is not at all like a typical fast bowler. My body language is also different, and I am not aggressive by nature; thus, my focus was always on my skills.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘I’m a sports lover. Not just cricket – I play badminton and football, too. When I get some time off, I prefer to play sports rather than working out.’ – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

‘I think I have the ability and can play a role in T20 cricket for South Africa.’ – Imran Tahir

‘In professional cricket, everybody wants to win.’ – Imran Tahir

‘I have bowled with another leg-spinner in county cricket – Shahid Afridi. But he is a totally different bowler than Mishra. I have a lot of respect for Mishra.’ – Imran Tahir

‘You have to just adjust to the conditions quickly because there is a big difference in 50-over and 20-over cricket, and if you back yourself, you will do well.’ – Imran Tahir

‘For me, what is important is, as a legspinner, you need determination, especially in modern-day cricket. You need to feel that you can change a game.’ – Imran Tahir

‘My biggest ambition, ever since I was a boy in Pakistan, has been to play cricket at the highest level. If I can do so for South Africa, I’ll give everything.’ – Imran Tahir

‘It is a big challenge as a spinner to play modern day cricket, where you have to have five players in the circle.’ – Imran Tahir

‘Spinners have a main role, whether in the IPL or world cricket. But it’s hard to be a legspinner: you have to be accurate.’ – Imran Tahir

‘I lost my parents without them seeing me play international cricket.’ – Imran Tahir

‘I can’t see myself playing anywhere else in the world. You don’t know how much I want to play international cricket for South Africa.’ – Imran Tahir

‘I’ve been playing cricket for quite a long time all over the world, and all the situations I have been in have given me confidence.’ – Imran Tahir

‘In T20, there’s a time shortage because you’ve got four overs. In one-day cricket, you relax, and the game goes long, and you only win the game in the last 10 or 15 overs.’ – Imran Tahir

‘Any spinner can change the game. It’s been proven in T20 cricket.’ – Imran Tahir

‘You just need to go into matches with a clear plan in T20 cricket. If you go half-half, it’s going to be really hard to come back.’ – Imran Tahir

‘If you look at me outside the cricket ground, I am a simple, normal guy, like everyone else. But on the field, that passion flows because I have been through a lot of tough times and have lost many special people.’ – Imran Tahir

‘I try not to miss my prayers and the 30 fasts in Ramazan, but even if I do miss them due to my cricket, I make up for them later on.’ – Imran Tahir

‘I just like to enjoy my cricket.’ – Imran Tahir

‘The best players of the world play in the IPL, and to bowl to them in T20 cricket isn’t easy.’ – Imran Tahir

‘Being chief selector has been the most challenging role of my cricket career, as I was heavily criticised for my decisions, and I couldn’t respond much.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘As chief selector, I did my best to pick new talent and give them proper opportunities, as they are the future of Pakistan cricket.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘Once you start feeling the pressure, you start to struggle. That is the beauty of Indo-Pak cricket contests.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘I don’t have a magic wand, and there is a lot we need to do right in Pakistan cricket to build a strong team.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘I want to develop an atmosphere where the selectors, captain, and coach are on the same page because, unless this happens, there will be no turnaround in our cricket.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘I wanted to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. But I could not.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘Even a good batsman requires a year or so in test cricket to settle down and play long innings.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘The thing that forced me to think about my retirement was that I had played my cricket with honour and distinction, and I did not want to put myself in a position where I was considered a liability or unwanted by the selectors.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘If people remember me as one who contributed to Pakistan’s cricket, I will feel good. If people say good things, it makes me feel happy.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘It is imperative that Afghanistan cricket does well. You cannot imagine how passionate Afghanistan’s fans are and how they live and die by every result.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘As more we play cricket, the more players will learn from it.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘In Pakistan cricket, the real test comes when the team is not doing well. When it is winning, everything is fine.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘Adjusting to life without cricket hasn’t been very tough.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘The victory in the 1992 World Cup changed Pakistan cricket. A number of cricketers from that side turned out to be role models and inspiration for the younger generation.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘The World Cup 2015 will be a stage for youngsters to make names for themselves and earn the respect and recognition of the cricket pundits. However, this can only be achieved if they don’t get overawed by the situation, stay focused, stick to basics, respect the opponents, and follow match plans that will vary from match to match.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘Playing Test cricket for one’s country is the ultimate, but people are enjoying Twenty20 format because everything will be over within three hours.’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq

‘I spent a lot of time with Rahul Dravid, working on my game and chatting about cricket. He helped me a lot in the games I played for India ‘A.” – K. L. Rahul

‘I totally enjoyed playing in Australia. I think they play very tough cricket, and the brand of cricket they play is very strong.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘After junior cricket, if the team wanted me to keep in a one-off/odd match or if anyone got injured, I was up for it. I kept in One-dayers and T20s.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘Quite honestly, cricket is same at all levels. It’s a game of bat and ball.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘I got some time off from international cricket so I could come back to India and reflect on what was not going right for me.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘When I came into Test cricket, I was good but not as good as I am now.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘I respect Test cricket a lot. Once I got into the Test team, I learnt so much about international cricket and realised it’s not so different.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘When kids are 15 or 16, they should be playing more sports. I played football, basketball, cricket… Name any sport, and I played it.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘The more cricket you play in your head, the less you perform on the field. So let cricket, the sport, be on the field.’ – K. L. Rahul

‘Ajwa and Asmara are the youngest and love to play dress-up. They have my permission to play any sport, as long as they’re indoors. Cricket? No, not for my girls.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘In all my years of cricket, I’ve given hundreds of interviews and done dozens of TV shows, but what you will read in my memoir are the stories and thoughts I’ve never shared openly.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I have played 20 years of international cricket for Pakistan and not the PCB.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘Dhoni has changed the face of Indian cricket and took them to the pinnacle of success, and his captaincy will be missed by the Indian team. He has led them well in all formats.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First, the curious case of Gambhir. Oh, poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records, just a lot of attitude.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘In very few countries I enjoyed cricket more than I did in India. I would always remember the love my team and I got from the fans here.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I admire Indian cricket because of the way the sport is run there and how the money they earn is invested back into the game and players.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I have nothing against the Indian people, and I have always enjoyed going to India, as the people there appreciate and support good cricket and players.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I still say Pakistan and India should have normal bilateral relations in cricket and there should be regular exchanges between the two countries.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I have never run after the captaincy in my entire career. It is something for the cricket board to decide.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I have no real desire to play Test cricket, and the reason I lost this desire was because I was not selected consistently for Test matches.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I am happy that I am getting a chance to play for Hampshire, because wherever I play, at the end of the day, I am recognized as a Pakistani, and if I do well, it is Pakistan cricket that gets a good name.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I have enjoyed my cricket in India, and I love Indian people.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I would say T20 cricket has introduced a more positive attitude in players and led to Tests also being played more aggressively and being more result oriented.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘Whether it is Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, or Inzamam ul-Haq, they will also say that they get a lot of respect here because cricket is literally worshiped in India.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I have said goodbye to international cricket.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I don’t think there is a need to treat matches with India like a matter of life and death. We need to take cricket as cricket.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘Treat cricket like a sport.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘In one-day cricket, we should not think that we can win easily against any team. There have been examples when big teams have lost to small sides.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘My relationship with Virat is not dictated by political situation. Virat is a fantastic human being and an ambassador of cricket for his country, just like I am for my country.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I don’t think, in international cricket, there is a need for coaching. The real coaching is to recognise your players’ strengths and weaknesses. You always remain positive with your players.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘I think, in international cricket, your management is about motivating players.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘You can really put yourself out there in front of the world, make a name for yourself in international cricket.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘Once I am out of the ground, I forget cricket or keep it away as far as possible, to lighten up.’ – Shahid Afridi

‘In domestic cricket – whether it is Ranji Trophy or other first class matches – in the first year, not many opponents will know about your game, but by the time you are into the third or fourth year, the opponents would have found out your strengths and weaknesses, and they will work on it.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘At the end of the day, my job is to play cricket, and till the time I am playing against any opposition, I am happy.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘To have healthy competitions among players for places in the team is good for Indian cricket and the game in general.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘Malinga has been a legend for Sri Lankan cricket, and he has done great in international cricket in all formats.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘An all-rounder in Tests and limited-overs’ cricket is equally important.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘I now have a better understanding of my game than what it was in 2013 in my first year in Test cricket.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘Before I made my Test debut, I had played nearly nine years of first-class cricket.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘I think it is a good thing for Indian cricket that there is so much competition for opening slot. Players put in more effort because you can be kicked out if you don’t play well and make mistakes. I take it positively and try to ensure that I give my best.’ – Shikhar Dhawan

‘My father, who has played a bit of cricket, comes to Chepauk to watch every game I play.’ – Vijay Shankar

‘My brother, Ajay, who plays lower-division games, and I discuss cricket often.’ – Vijay Shankar

‘I don’t know how I have got this habit, but I try to play one match and give it my best – it doesn’t matter which level of cricket I am playing in. It gives me satisfaction that I am not thinking about others, not competing with others.’ – Vijay Shankar

‘I was actually a top-order batsman when I played league cricket in Tamil Nadu. When I made my Ranji debut, I had to bat down the order.’ – Vijay Shankar

‘I want to complete my MBA but don’t know when I will find time from my cricket schedule.’ – Vijay Shankar

‘Growing up, my education about Test cricket came from dad’s video of the 1981 Ashes series – and Ian Botham’s incredible match at Headingley.’ – James Anderson

‘Part of the reason I fell in love with cricket was watching fast bowlers. They provide a sense of theatre with dramatic, ferocious spells and that applies as much in one-day cricket as in Tests.’ – James Anderson

‘I’ve spent most of my life watching fast bowlers – initially as a kid on TV and later in the flesh when I started playing top-level cricket.’ – James Anderson

‘I first got into cricket by watching Test matches on TV and listening to overseas tours on the radio. The sport really grabbed me – and it didn’t matter that England weren’t hugely successful back then.’ – James Anderson

‘When you’re a kid, you dream about playing cricket for a living, playing for your county and then your country.’ – James Anderson

‘It is easy to get carried away in this Twenty20 era and think Test cricket has to be entertaining all the time.’ – James Anderson

‘There is a lot of talk about how Twenty20 has changed batting techniques in Test cricket. But it has also had an impact on bowling.’ – James Anderson

‘From an England point of view they have put money into white-ball cricket because our performances in World Cups has not been good enough, I understand the reasons for that. But we have to be careful not to go too one-day, we have to find a balance because there is such a legacy of Test cricket in this country and we can’t lose that.’ – James Anderson

‘The media attention does not bother me. I am very happy that the media is at least interested in sports other than cricket.’ – Geeta Phogat

‘I’d always had this romantic idea, ever since I’ve been writing scripts, that I would travel one day and pull up stumps, as we say in Australia. It’s a cricket reference. You can Google it. Pull up stumps in some country like Italy or Spain and do my little Truman Capote thing.’ – Leigh Whannell

‘For Pakistan cricket to stay relevant and strong, the best players have to be available all the time – it’s a challenge faced by everyone, but one that particularly relates to us because of our mainly amateur, pretty random, and certainly too thinly spread domestic structure that feeds the national team.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I have to say that I have developed a real passion for Pakistan cricket.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘England’s full of cricket tradition. I follow the game there hugely.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘We are trying to create a culture of excellence. To create that culture has been tough. It hasn’t been there in Pakistan cricket for a while – whether that is cultural or a product of the environment, I am not sure.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘When I lost the job with Cricket Australia, I almost felt I had unfinished business to do. I felt that my reputation with South Africa and internationally had been very good. And then you lose your coaching job, it is tough. It kept me three years out of it.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I’ll never forget Cricket Australia telling me I was too soft and I’d been too soft with the team… I kind of didn’t know what they wanted.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘After my dismissal, I received nothing in writing from Cricket Australia, no contact, and no payment at all, not even of my basic leave pay, until I was forced to bring in lawyers to assist in the process.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘Cricket is 24/7 for me.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I am changing the culture in this Pakistan environment and I am not interested in players doing just the bare minimum. I want players winning us games of cricket and pushing themselves to be the best they can be.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I did my wholehearted effort to lift Pakistan cricket.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘Fitness is amplified in one-day cricket – fielding, running ones, twos, threes. Sometimes in an over you are running six twos. If you are not fit enough, you can’t run those runs.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I am so passionate about Pakistan cricket that I would never ever put myself in a position where there will be a conflict of interest.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I have never tried to hide my ambition to work in county cricket one day.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) is doing an unbelievable job in trying to resurrect international cricket. I just hope the World XI tour goes ahead and that will almost be the curtain raiser to, hopefully, get some international cricket back.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘Australia always play their cricket really hard.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I’ve never been a massive advocate of international Twenty20 cricket except a World Cup every two or three years, because that gets the best players together.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I never wanted to launch legal action, but Cricket Australia simply left me no option. James Sutherland himself said that, to an extent, I had been made ‘a scapegoat.’ I find that a totally unfair basis to end my career. The damage to my reputation and career has been immense, which means the chances of me getting a senior job are that much less.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘I’m going to give international cricket one more crack. The Pakistan job seems like a perfect fit.’ – Mickey Arthur

‘When I watch Twenty20 cricket, there’s a different satisfaction. That hundred you get in six hours is a very satisfying feeling. A real triumph of skill. I don’t quite see that in the 20-over game – or the 100-ball game.’ – Alastair Cook

‘In international cricket you have to thrive on the big stage, you have to deal with the media and the pressure.’ – Alastair Cook

‘Physically and mentally, it’s quite hard. But I’m playing cricket for England. It’s what I dream about doing.’ – Alastair Cook

‘All I ever wanted to do was play cricket for England and be successful.’ – Alastair Cook

‘Franchise cricket is here to stay because of the money.’ – Alastair Cook

‘As cricketers we’re judged on the average we have from being a 21-year-old who’s just come into international cricket to the day you retire.’ – Alastair Cook

‘I always found one-day cricket a lot harder. I had to change my game.’ – Alastair Cook

‘I think a lot when I’m on my own – and much of it is about cricket.’ – Alastair Cook

‘When I’m away from cricket I switch off totally. Otherwise I would never be able to keep that same hunger.’ – Alastair Cook

‘You’re always under pressure, that’s what life is about. That is what playing international cricket or being a professional sportsman is.’ – Alastair Cook

‘You’re either singing on TV or in front of a full cathedral and there’s a bit of pressure there. I know it sounds funny but if you get used to doing it, then performing in front of people playing cricket is the same sort of thing.’ – Alastair Cook

‘It’s quite nice to switch off and not see anything to do with cricket.’ – Alastair Cook

‘I have loved cricket my whole life, from playing in the garden as a child, and will never underestimate how special it is to pull on an England shirt.’ – Alastair Cook

‘The captaincy thing is brilliant, and I love it. But I didn’t start off playing cricket to captain England. I wanted to score runs and stuff.’ – Alastair Cook

‘I made my debut in 2006 and absolutely, there was the pressure of the cricket, but there was no social media. There was no direct feedback to your phone. If you wanted to, you could avoid it.’ – Alastair Cook

‘No disrespect to county cricket but when you’re playing for England it is the ultimate, it is what has always driven me to push myself above and beyond.’ – Alastair Cook

‘Test cricket gives ultimate satisfaction that I don’t think any other type of cricket does due to the nature and longevity of it.’ – Alastair Cook

‘In one sense, what happens for me outside of cricket gives me that break – the farming means I have a really different life outside of cricket; it’s not just cricket, cricket, cricket for 12 months of the year.’ – Alastair Cook

‘The beauty of cricket is that there are so many different opinions as to the best way to do something and at times it is easier to see something when you’re not emotionally involved in the game and not responsible for the decision. You can go and have a cup of tea and look at it from a different point of view.’ – Alastair Cook

‘The biggest thing was probably a better understanding of the mental side of cricket and also the technical challenges I have in my game. Those two things happened in a very short space of time which changed me as a player.’ – Alastair Cook

‘Sheep are never going to talk to you about cricket.’ – Alastair Cook

‘I think my general view of day-night Test cricket is that there is definitely something there that the ICC can keep looking at because it moves the game forward with timing and allows more people to come and watch.’ – Alastair Cook

‘That is one of the great things about Test cricket, the ball. Sometimes it swings conventionally, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes it reverses.’ – Alastair Cook

‘The stats suggest that I’m not a dasher. It doesn’t mean I can’t play the shots, but when you find a method in four-day and Test cricket that works for you, you stick with it.’ – Alastair Cook

‘I love cricket but I like being away from it as well.’ – Alastair Cook

‘You need to come to terms with the fact that you are not an international cricketer anymore and that’s certainly difficult to come to terms with. But then I love going to my farm and spending time with my family. Drop and pick up my kids from school and play cricket as well.’ – Alastair Cook

‘Alex Hales has tightened up his game from South Africa and learned about Test cricket. It’s great when you see someone who doesn’t quite nail it, but goes away and works away at it, come back a person who understands more about Test cricket.’ – Alastair Cook

‘It’s incredible to watch how our cricket clubs depend on volunteers.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I tie my wedding ring around my neck with an old shoelace. It’s to remind me of why I play cricket: for my family – my wife Ruth and my boys Sam and Luca.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘Cricket is not rocket science. Bowlers often get wickets through perseverance, accuracy and being patient rather than trying to blast opposition teams out.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘In the cricket world, with a lot of little issues that people are getting in a tizz around, I’m just like: Don’t worry about it.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘This whole quest to win the 2019 World Cup, that was my job when I was director of England cricket.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘So I never forget how lucky I am. That’s the reason above all else why I’m determined to keep enjoying cricket, whatever the wins or the losses. As long as I do that then the runs will come.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘If we broaden the audience for cricket, more people will be interested in all forms, then TV rights and sponsors and crowds will follow.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘There is a real danger that kids won’t engage with cricket when there are so many other opportunities to use their time in other sports, not to mention video-gaming, and generally long-form cricket doesn’t turn them on.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘There is no reason why cricket shouldn’t be the number one alternative to football. And at a time when there are obvious divisions in society, cricket has a great role to play in bringing people together from all sorts of diverse backgrounds and faiths.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I still remember my quote from the 2007 World Cup, when I said scoring two threes was as good as hitting a six. That was me trying to justify what you couldn’t. To me, and this was before I became director of cricket, we just couldn’t do that again.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘No one has ever doubted Kevin Pietersen’s abilities as a player, he has been a phenomenal player for England for a long period of time, his record stacks up to anyone’s in English cricket and he should be very proud of his record.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘And my job is to look at the future of English cricket and develop a side that is capable of winning important series and tournaments in the next four years. And that is what I am going to concentrate on doing.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘Peter Moores has been very popular in the England dressing room. He’s got a very good record of developing players, but I felt that there are some areas in international cricket where he is a little bit exposed, for me personally around tactics and strategy.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I had to stop being a student idiot and become more sensible and organised and that definitely improved my batting. I also reacted far more quickly to situations in Test cricket because I’d been a county captain. It made a huge difference.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘The only thing I’d say about Darrell Hair is that he is a very good umpire. He’s very firm and he obviously sticks to his guns. I wouldn’t have any qualms about him coming back into Test cricket.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘When I came back into the side in 2009 I had to play more aggressively, and did. But I should never have played 127 times for England in one day cricket.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I’m most proud of a couple of things. Firstly what we managed to do with the team from 2009 to get them to win the Ashes in Australia. That was remarkable. And secondly moving England forward in white-ball cricket because that is where the game is going and we need to be at the vanguard.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘In 50over cricket there are different ways of playing. It’s not all about smacking it over the top. It’s important someone bats through the innings. That would be one of the options for me.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘A cricket team is always made up of 11 different individuals and you want to give them enough flexibility to be themselves.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘When you’re managing a team the key is, I guess, to find where those boundaries are, where you’re prepared to let people go, to what extent you’re allowing them to be a free spirit because ultimately it’s all got to be in the greater cause which is making sure the team wins cricket games.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I really believe that every game of international cricket should have some sort of meaning and some sort of context to it – so the World Test Championship, the World One-Day League are all really, really important opportunities to the game.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I wouldn’t rule out the idea of four-day Test cricket, if we can get the playing conditions right and the right circumstances it might be a good thing in some parts of the world.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘We should be far more flexible about the way we play our cricket away from home. We can’t just presume that what works at home will work away. We need to be more flexible and creative both in the way we play and the way we select.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘Cricket is 90-95 per cent mental. To score runs, you’ve got to feel good about yourself.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘My biggest concern is that Test cricket and Twenty20 cricket are competing too much. They should be complementing each other and the more they clash the more damaging it will be for cricket.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘Some really good players are coming out of county cricket. Better preparation, and looking after yourself physically are things that counties should still have to strive for. Also, the volume of county cricket is still far too high. I’d definitely like less county cricket.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘Peter Moores has been very popular in the England dressing room. He’s got a very good record of developing players but I felt that in some areas of international cricket he is a little bit exposed, around tactics and strategy.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘I think there will be one overarching coach for Tests and one-day cricket. I think you need one person in control and in charge of that environment. Also it’s important for people to know I am not going to be playing a tracksuited role. The execution of strategy is over to the captain and coach as it always has been.’ – Andrew Strauss

‘If you are good enough to play international cricket, you can take wickets – but you have to bowl the right length.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘It’s the games you lose or struggle in that you learn most from in Test cricket.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘It’s incredible what the Sydney Test has become – it’s now iconically the pink Sydney Test. It’s the sixth year that the McGrath Foundation has been involved and the support from everyone in cricket – right across the board, supporters, teams, you name it – has been absolutely incredible.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘Australia play best when they’ve got a bit of mongrel about them, when they play hard out in the middle, when they don’t give an inch, when they play an aggressive brand of cricket.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘The difference between first-class cricket and international cricket isn’t skill, it’s attitude and the way you go about things.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘Test cricket tests you physically and skill-wise, but also mentally. And you have to be solid on all three to do well.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘The Australian approach to playing cricket in general is quite an aggressive one.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘An Australian prime minister once said that his job was the second most important job in the country – behind being captain of the cricket team. It’s not a job you take on lightly.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘One of the great things about cricket, and certainly something that I found helpful, was that as soon as you step over the boundary rope you can switch off everything that is happening off the field and focus solely on what is happening out on the pitch.’ – Glenn McGrath

‘When Dad passed away, grandpa took on that mantle of teaching me how to tackle at football or taking me and mum to cricket.’ – Jonny Bairstow

‘You only have to see the rate of divorce in cricket. You’re away so much and then 18 months later, you’re around all the time and not sure what to do with the rest of your life. You go from being at the peak of your powers to being at the bottom of the food chain.’ – Jonny Bairstow

‘You think of what might have been different if dad had been around, or how I might have turned out as a person. You just don’t know. I might not even be playing cricket.’ – Jonny Bairstow

‘Life without cricket was initially harder for my dad than playing the game for Yorkshire and England had ever been. He missed it, and also the adrenaline pump of a performance.’ – Jonny Bairstow

‘We used to go cycling as a family every weekend. I played basketball, cricket, badminton, and was half-decent at them.’ – Jack Butland

‘I played with Graham Thorpe and Alec Stewart; if anything off the field affected Graham his cricket life was not important and you had to give him a break. But if Alec had issues at home you would never know about it; he would turn up and think: ‘This is my job, I can do it.” – Nasser Hussain

‘I think Andrew Strauss never gets enough credit for what he’s done for English cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘I played my first ever Test in Kingston in 1990. I’d just graduated from Durham University and there I was, at Sabina Park, playing Test cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘I’ve played cricket seriously since I was eight years old, when I first played for the Essex under-11s. I can’t just turn it off.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘Many Pakistani fans will say they have followed their team for too long and had their hearts broken many times, but I love them, and I love their cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘I like back-to-back Tests at the end of a series, without any county game in between. We know county cricket has no bearing on Test cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘Pressure is the biggest single factor in Test cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘In every sport you need a break and England seem to be the only cricket country which doesn’t get one.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘There is too much cricket being played. You need time away to get your mind in order to reach the optimum level.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘It was Test cricket as it should be played, when the irresistible force in Allan Donald met the immovable object in Mike Atherton at Trent Bridge in 1998. And I was happy to watch from the best seat in the house – at the other end.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘It’s not an issue for me if I captain England in 42 Tests or in 50. It’s a question of what is best for the team in Test and one-day cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘It sounds sycophantic, but I don’t think I have met anyone in cricket who gives so much to a team as Marcus Trescothick does to England.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘Politicians as diverse as Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe have been quoted at our team meetings. That is how political England cricket tours have become.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘Test match cricket is about individual brilliance.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘One-day cricket is about continuity, team ethic, understanding each other’s role, where everybody fields and bats, when and at which end they want to bowl.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘Every player needs to be aware of the levels of fitness needed to play international cricket.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘The Australians are a weird bunch – until the cricket starts they’re really friendly, saying ‘good luck’ all the time, but the moment the cricket begins they have a real go at you.’ – Nasser Hussain

‘Not many people know this about me, but my first passion in life was cricket.’ – Saqib Saleem

‘I am a cricket lover and wanted to be a cricketer.’ – Saqib Saleem

‘I and Virat have played cricket when we were youngsters back in Delhi. We were about 12 then. He had that spark in him and we knew he would play for India one day. He was a very good player then too.’ – Saqib Saleem

‘I was a sportsman and played cricket all my life.’ – Saqib Saleem

‘I know the International Cricket Council are very strict about what you are allowed to do and what looks good on TV, but you can’t let that take away from your natural game.’ – Stuart Broad

‘The history of Test cricket will suggest if you hold the top of off longer than anyone else you will have success, in England particularly it’s about owning the top of off.’ – Stuart Broad

‘I like to take wickets and see wickets and chances and I think in T20 cricket you have to risk a boundary to take a wicket.’ – Stuart Broad

‘Ultimately we’re playing cricket and we want guys who will score runs and take catches to help England win.’ – Stuart Broad

‘I’ve always had an interest in the media, I love cricket, so why wouldn’t I want to be around it?’ – Stuart Broad

‘There are always distractions in international cricket because that’s part of being an international sportsman.’ – Stuart Broad

‘That’s one of the nice things about being a sportsman is that once you cross that white line, it is a freedom, you are away from everything in life really. You are playing cricket and that’s an escape from everything. That’s as clear as you get really.’ – Stuart Broad

‘That’s one of the good things about cricket, the friendships around the game.’ – Stuart Broad

‘I’m aware how special an achievement 100 caps is because of the players that have come before me and the amount they’ve given to English cricket.’ – Stuart Broad

‘I play cricket for the competitive side of it.’ – Stuart Broad

‘A large part of my childhood was spent holding a cricket bat. The first time I picked one up was in the garden aged about six, and I’ve never really put the bat down since.’ – Stuart Broad

‘My father was a great mentor to me and is someone I admire and look up to. However, it was my mum who was more of a driving force when it came to me and cricket – she constantly encouraged me to always remember to have fun when playing. And Mum was the one who took me round the grounds at the beginning of my career.’ – Stuart Broad

‘People say I inherited my feisty attitude on the cricket pitch from my dad, but he and I might disagree. The most useful trait I’ve inherited from my mother is to make sure that I’m always organised.’ – Stuart Broad

‘Everyone knows I’ve got a pretty passionate outlook on my cricket – and sometimes it does get the better of me.’ – Stuart Broad

‘It is certainly not how I’ve been brought up and it’s not in my blood to play cricket in that safety-first way.’ – Stuart Broad

‘People talk about cricket being an individual game but I really don’t agree; everything is done in a partnership.’ – Stuart Broad

‘International cricket and Test cricket in particular is hard and you are going to get injuries but, if you’ve got a strong pool of players to pick from who can all come in and do a job, well that can only be a good thing for English cricket.’ – Stuart Broad

‘My outlook is that when you’re under pressure then that is when you play your best cricket. You’ve got no choice but to perform to keep your place and I find that brings out the best in me.’ – Stuart Broad

‘The best player I’ve played with would be Graeme Swann, just because he’s proved that regular finger-spinners can take wickets in international cricket for England.’ – Stuart Broad

‘It’s very important in international cricket to be able to hold a bat, not just hold up an end, but have the ability to score runs.’ – Stuart Broad

‘I do love the Ashes and some of my best memories are from Ashes cricket. I just wish we’d played a few more Test matches.’ – Isa Guha

‘I am following the IPL. I think it would be great for the women’s game, creating more competition and showcasing the world’s best players from different countries. It would also be a stepping-stone to women’s cricket becoming professional.’ – Isa Guha

‘I prioritise different things at different times, so when a cricket tour is coming up, cricket takes priority. But then there are times when I need to focus on my studies. I think it’s good to have a balance.’ – Isa Guha

‘I think T20 cricket has become the flagship spectacle for women’s cricket.’ – Isa Guha

‘Many England girls have grown up playing men’s cricket and trained in county men’s academies, so they’ve faced 70-80 mph bowling. So when it comes to the women’s game you have a 75mph bowler who’s not as tall and not getting as much bounce, you feel more assured.’ – Isa Guha

‘England Women regularly play against Under-15 and U-17 county men’s sides, which is great for the girls to take them out of their comfort zones. It’s important to find a balance, though, because the way in which women’s cricket is played is still very different.’ – Isa Guha

‘I haven’t played men’s Test cricket, I’ve played women’s Test cricket.’ – Isa Guha

‘From playing cricket in a boys team I had to learn quite quickly how to handle them and I’ve always felt quite comfortable in that environment. Because I feel comfortable, I’d like to think they do too.’ – Isa Guha

‘As part of the England women’s cricket team, we had our own rickety period at the end of 2005 through to the beginning of 2007. Learning from our mistakes, by 2009 we were the best team in the world.’ – Isa Guha

‘It’s no secret that women’s cricket needs India performing on the global stage, and any male support is welcome – with key voices like Sachin Tendulkar stating that women’s cricket is critical to the future of our game, hopefully people will listen.’ – Isa Guha

‘That’s how cricket should be broadcast. Ball-by-ball calling is important but you’ve got to be lighthearted like you’re down the pub with your mates.’ – Isa Guha

‘It’s about being true to who you are as a person. For example, I’m not going to shy away from an opinion because I have played cricket, whereas other women who haven’t played cricket might be more journalistic about their approach.’ – Isa Guha

‘T20 is fast-paced and a wonderful vehicle to attract wider audience. On a technical level, it probably has impacted Test cricket.’ – Isa Guha

‘IPL is a T20 franchise tournament combining cricket and Bollywood to offer entertainment.’ – Isa Guha

‘Playing cricket has given me an excellent opportunity to get fit and healthy, meet people of similar interests, integrate with people of different backgrounds and see the world.’ – Isa Guha

‘It would be great to see more Asian women playing cricket at every level.’ – Isa Guha

‘Cricket is a sport girls can play and be successful in irrespective of their background.’ – Isa Guha

‘It’s not that there has never been a keen following for women’s cricket in India.’ – Isa Guha

‘I’ve been lucky in that my parents have always supported me with my cricket, but I’ve seen so many young Asian girls who don’t keep up their sporting interests after the age of 12 or 13.’ – Isa Guha

‘Broadcasters realise there is a large percentage of women that watch cricket and it was the Caribbean Premier League that first got me to commentate a men’s international T20.’ – Isa Guha

‘When the cricket is serious and it’s a really important time in the middle we focus on that but obviously when it isn’t there is a lot of time to chat and we can use that as time to bring the comedians in a bit more. We get the balance right between getting the calling of the cricket right but having some fun as well.’ – Isa Guha

‘We used to live five minutes from the local cricket club in High Wycombe. My brother Kaush, who is seven years older, played there.’ – Isa Guha

‘I wasn’t aware of women’s cricket until I was 10. We grew up following the men’s game.’ – Isa Guha

‘My parents were proud of the fact that I was playing cricket, they used to ferry me around during the weekends to play the game.’ – Isa Guha

‘To people who don’t take women’s cricket seriously, I’d say: just watch a game first, and then make your judgement.’ – Isa Guha

‘England is leading the way in women’s cricket.’ – Isa Guha

‘When I first started playing cricket for England, there was hardly any coverage.’ – Isa Guha

‘T20 is the vehicle to make cricket a truly global game.’ – Isa Guha

‘Opening the batting in Test cricket, facing up to fast bowlers looking to do their worst with a new, hard ball is incredibly tough. You have to be brave, single-minded and prepared to work very, very hard.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘I think most cricket fans would accept that Dravid and Tendulkar are very different individuals but they are both great players.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘This is Test cricket. Being positive is not far away from being reckless. For all that the sport has become more fast-flowing and entertaining, you still need batsmen whose first instinct is to be patient.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘It is nothing new for the management of an international cricket team to wrestle with the amount of freedom afforded to players.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘For me, Test cricket at its best is all about ebb and flow of initiative, and it’s always a fascinating moment of the match for me when one sides snatches it from the other.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘Test cricket is about respecting the opposition, the conditions and the circumstances.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘There is no other job in major sport like a cricket captain. It is a huge job.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘Without television, cricket would be a poorer place;the two have to coexist.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘We don’t cover too many draws in Test cricket and its great: it means the cricket is more interesting, more exciting.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘I don’t think cricket will ever have the same sort of money as football.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘Test cricket might seem to be slow and ponderous at times, yet it is capable of conjuring great drama from nowhere.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘It’s an interesting education to listen to cricket commentary when you’re not at the game. When you’re there, which is most of the time for me, it flows over you. But when you’re not there, you look at it in a slightly different way. You pick up things.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘It’s all you hear on a cricket field – ‘Knock his head off, knock his head off.’ Cricket has gone too far. It shouldn’t be posturing, abusing.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘You can’t now do county and international cricket and have a life.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘Adelaide is terribly underrated. There are lovely wide streets, beautiful parks, one of the most scenic cricket grounds, wonderful beaches, and vineyards nearby. The food and the people are lovely, and it’s not too big and sprawling.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘Some people get the wrong idea about what the job of a cricket correspondent involves – it’s not all laid-on luxury travel.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘I played at school then signed up with Leicestershire when I was 18, for ¬£20 per week. In those days cricket wasn’t a full-time job; in the winter you had nothing to do.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘I did three winters at BBC Radio Leicester while playing cricket in the summers.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘Call me traditional, but Test cricket is the most important thing.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘In Test cricket, you have to be adaptable.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘That is what Test cricket is about, adapting to different conditions around the world.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘I love the individual characters that cricket produces and, more than most other sports, the unlikely heroes.’ – Jonathan Agnew

‘We learnt a lot from county cricket – even if we did not earn stacks of money from it.’ – Viv Richards

‘When I grew up, my father used to say that cricket is not a profession, cricket cannot bring you food. But I think he lived to see the day when I was actually paid.’ – Viv Richards

‘Sport in itself has this power. If you are a poet or a singer, people gravitate. I may not be in the same category, but I will make a comparison with Bob Marley. So it isn’t just cricket where social commentary plays a huge part.’ – Viv Richards

‘The problem with West Indies cricket is that the talent is there but there is no cohesion. Everybody’s pulling in different directions; the players, the selectors, the management.’ – Viv Richards

‘Over the years I have been watching Pakistan when playing against them or with them in county cricket. And they have been brilliant bowlers and batsmen and great individuals.’ – Viv Richards

‘Guys are playing a lot of limited overs cricket and not making that adjustment when it comes to the longer version and pay a price for that.’ – Viv Richards

‘At cricket, I was mainly a bowler and tried to bat. I hit the odd four or six and then got out! In athletics, I was mainly triple jump and 200m.’ – Chris Smalling

‘There’s so much information out there. There are written biographies of Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, there are interviews, and we have had the benefit of meeting these players. There’s a physical and psychological aspect, and combining these two is what will help ’83’ connect with the millenials and cricket lovers.’ – Tahir Raj Bhasin

‘It is a matter of pride, and a lot of pressure to play the role of a legend like Sunil Gavaskar. He is India’s first cricket superstar.’ – Tahir Raj Bhasin

‘I always try to stay methodical and logical with everything I do, playing cricket and making decisions.’ – Eoin Morgan

‘When I first started playing international cricket, people around me started telling me what was being said. And you’re never as good as anybody says you are. I try to stay quite logical about things.’ – Eoin Morgan

‘For me Test cricket is the ultimate.’ – Eoin Morgan

‘I was helped by the fact that my dad is a cricket fanatic and that my three brothers and two sisters all played. It’s just part of our family.’ – Eoin Morgan

‘The way New Zealand played at the 2015 World Cup changed cricket. The way they went about it epitomised the way they are as a nation.’ – Eoin Morgan

‘I sort of felt like the runt of the litter. My brother was just great. If you gave him a cricket bat he’d score 100. If he walked into a party he’d pull the best-looking girl. He was my hero.’ – Jeremy Kyle

‘I rarely get the time to watch cricket as I am busy with recordings.’ – Javed Ali

‘I do enjoy cricket, but the game is over hyped.’ – Paresh Rawal

‘I want to be associated with a show related to cricket as I’m proud of India playing the sport at an international level.’ – Rashami Desai

‘I was a child who was interested in sports, and represented my school in football, cricket, badminton and table tennis.’ – Siddharth Shukla

‘I used to work in a clothes store, played cricket for money, did photo shoots. It was that period of struggle which gave me the experience to be an actor. The emotions have to come from the raw material of life.’ – Sudeep

‘I used to play a lot of cricket at the junior level. Then I did my engineering and got interested in singing and playing the guitar. Yes, I’m a musician. From music it was a step away from cinema.’ – Sudeep

‘It is much easier to do a film about something that the audience readily knows about – say, cricket. It is much more difficult to write a film based on golf.’ – Vetrimaaran

‘Then started playing men’s cricket when I was 15. That’s when I stopped enjoying it. It was long days, 50-over games with men 15 years older who you don’t really have anything in common with, all talking about going to the pub.’ – Ben Chilwell

‘I was enjoying my football, even though it wasn’t really going well. That’s when I said to my dad, who as a New Zealander was very keen on me playing cricket, that I would choose football.’ – Ben Chilwell

‘Cricket keeps me away from classes, and home, for long periods at a time. But talking to friends and family helps, it is a sacrifice I have to make, because I love cricket.’ – Stuart Binny

‘In Ranji cricket, I am used heavily as a bowler, but in international cricket I hardly get four overs, and sometimes I never even get to bowl and bat at number eight.’ – Stuart Binny

‘I have already established myself as Stuart Binny. I want to be known as a good player who served Karnataka cricket for more than a decade and also played Test cricket for country.’ – Stuart Binny

‘If there can be films about why hockey (and not just cricket) is cool, there can be a film or two about the virtues of honest, hard work.’ – Abhijit Banerjee

‘I used to always look forward to my school summer holidays where Saba and I would go and meet bhai. It was exciting spending those two months with him. I always thought he was cool, with his long hair. We would watch him play cricket at his boarding school. He would take us out for dinner with his friends. Exciting times for a kid!’ – Soha Ali Khan

‘I don’t mind a bit of cricket, but it has to be something massive like the Ashes.’ – Jamie Carragher

‘We all know the soil in western India has a reddish tinge. In cricketing parlance it means a ticket to party for the spinners at the start and end of a cricket season.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘As a child I played cricket as a hobby. Once you started playing for your school, you became more ambitious. You reckoned you could play for the state. Then you started to think about the country. But it happened so quickly for me, I started playing for the school at 13, for Bombay at 17, and at 18 I was in the Indian side.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Sometimes in cricket nothing is automatic; when automatic fails you need some fuel.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘The classical art of spin bowling, how you should bowl in Test match cricket, is disappearing.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘When you are watching a cricket match, and a side is 140 for 5 and another 100 plus to get in trying conditions and when you get that without losing a wicket, not only is that entertainment, it shows all the qualities a sportsperson should have to reach the top level.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘You don’t come to a cricket ground to draw a cricket match.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the undisputed leader of the Indian cricket team.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘The boss is the captain on the cricket field. I am in charge of the coaching staff. That’s put into place. My job is to oversee things and see things go all right. Who cares who’s the boss? At the end of the day, you win and to hell with it, yaar.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘If you look at cricket per se, if you didn’t have T20 cricket, Test cricket will die. People don’t realise. You just play Test cricket, and don’t play one-day cricket and T20 cricket, and speak to me after 10 years. The economics will just not allow the game to survive.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘We want Indian cricket to carry on.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘What my endeavour is to see a happy Indian team playing cricket.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘One-day cricket and T20s have vastly different identities and one cannot look at it through the mere lens of ‘white-ball cricket.” – Ravi Shastri

‘Individual don’t matter, and we should all work in the best interest of Indian cricket. It should take the centre-stage.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Sometimes when you are playing non-stop international cricket in all formats – which was the case with Jadeja – you do well one day, get hammered the next, and immediately the spotlight is on you. That eats into you.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘In local cricket, I scored big hundreds and picked wickets against good teams.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Opening for the first time in Test cricket, I scored 128 against the likes of Sarfraz Nawaz and Imran Khan.’ – Ravi Shastri

‘A lot has evolved and changed in women’s sport in the last 10 years – particularly football and cricket. So, I think my timing, in terms of being able to play both for a while, was fortunate.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘Honestly, direct monetary comparisons aren’t helpful. If you’re going to look at remuneration, you have to be realistic about what revenue we’re bringing in for the organisation and the sport. And as it currently stands, women’s cricket is still a cost to the business.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘But, without a doubt, my favourite thing? It’s sitting in a change room like this after a match. There’s no time frame on how long you’ll sit there. There’s no formality. You’re just enjoying each other’s company, thinking about cricket.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘For me, growing up and watching Test cricket and absolutely loving it, that’s been the pinnacle for me with cricket.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘My mum, Kathy, works as a GP and my dad, Mark, was a high school maths teacher. He now manages mum’s practice and is also my cricket coach. We are a close-knit family.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘I play cricket. I’m a professional cricketer and I guess my job is to hopefully help Australia win games of cricket.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘Having success in World Cups is some of the biggest career highlights that I’ve had, but more generally speaking, the biggest highlight is just the development of the sport and being involved in this period of women’s cricket, but also in women’s sport in general in Australia, where it’s been a bit of a watershed moment.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘For me looking at the success of some of the women’s football World Cups, the crowds they’ve drawn, the spectacle it has created and the event that it’s been I think it’s really great cricket is having a go at that as well.’ – Ellyse Perry

‘I used to come to school with my school bag hanging on one shoulder and the cricket kit on the other. It was pretty cool and I felt special.’ – Rahul Dev

‘I played cricket for the Delhi under-15 and 19 team. I was inspired by Imran Khan.’ – Rahul Dev

‘People make mistakes along the way. Cricket means I may not always be there for everyone all the time. But when I take the field for my country, I know there are a lot of people I am representing.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I was so fortunate to play my club cricket at Moseley Ashfield. We had loads of Asians, white players, black players. You grow up from that knowing it just doesn’t matter what religion or culture people are into, everyone is different.’ – Moeen Ali

‘From nine, I started playing cricket. From 11, I knew this is what I’m doing.’ – Moeen Ali

‘If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be working in a chippy. Cricket can change your life. It can teach you a lot about discipline and life in general.’ – Moeen Ali

‘When you go into cricket you have to be streetwise.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I have been told in the past that’s my downfall but I’d rather be too nice to be honest. I set out in cricket to make friends. I’d rather people say they enjoyed playing with him and he’s a good guy, not he’s a good player but a bit of a so and so.’ – Moeen Ali

‘It took a lot of sacrifice from my dad. He managed to put cricket nets in our garden because he knew we had to practise every day. That would also keep us away from the streets.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I needed to step back from cricket, international cricket in particular, to get away from the scrutiny and intensity. I love it but it was too much for me.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I know how much of a uniting game cricket is and as a leader of the Birmingham Phoenix that is something I definitely want to promote.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Representing England has always been a privilege and my decision to take a break from Test cricket at the end of the home summer was made to ensure that, hopefully, I can do it for a lot longer.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Since my international debut in 2014 the miles on the clock have probably crept up and Test cricket is the level where the pressure and scrutiny are greatest.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Sometimes it can feel like my bad days in Test cricket get amplified or singled out more than other players, while my good ones can fly under the radar. I’m not making excuses but over time this can get to you a little bit.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Respect is having respect for the people you play with and against, and respect for the shirt. Unity is about sticking together but also uniting the country. That was always the bigger cause for us, not just the cricket.’ – Moeen Ali

‘People have been saying life will change for us now but me? No chance. I may be a World Cup winner but I will always be the lad who played cricket with his friends and cousins in the park on Stoney Lane in south Birmingham using an old milk crate for stumps.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Difference is respected and the environment Eoin Morgan has created is such that we are encouraged to transfer our personalities into our cricket.’ – Moeen Ali

‘In tournament cricket, with a new opponent each game, I think you actually need to play to your own strengths more.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I grew up playing against friends and cousins in the park and it was some of the most competitive cricket I have played.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Cricket can produce some amazing feelings on the field and I have been lucky enough to experience a few along the way.’ – Moeen Ali

‘It’s always nice to get a call-up when in decent nick as you can have that confidence coming into the game. It’s what county cricket should do.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Through county cricket all the way up to international cricket, the individual needs to be responsible for his behaviour.’ – Moeen Ali

‘We want cricket to grow for kids, and for families to come and watch.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I needed to step back from cricket, international cricket in particular, just to get away from the scrutiny and intensity of everything. I love it but it was too much for me.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I’ve always said it’s just a game of cricket. The only pressure I get is when I feel I’ve let the team down.’ – Moeen Ali

‘I wear the beard as a label. I want people to know I am a Muslim and I want people to know I am representing the Muslim faith. I want to show that you can practise your faith and still play cricket to a high level.’ – Moeen Ali

‘We all played in my family and cricket has always been in the blood.’ – Moeen Ali

‘Religion is very important to me. One of my aims is to try to show that you can have faith and play cricket. There can be a lot of negativity and misunderstanding of Islam.’ – Moeen Ali

‘It’s not that I don’t like cricket. I have played first class cricket and represented Delhi in the Ranji Trophy as a spinner, but at the same time my inclination to become an actor was very strong.’ – Angad Bedi

‘I have always loved cinema more than the cricket. I don’t think there is any harm in taking a different field.’ – Angad Bedi

‘I had to unlearn cricket to learn hockey. It is easier for someone who is not a sportsperson to pick up hockey. They just have to learn it.’ – Angad Bedi

‘At 17, I realized that it’s going to be a tough decision to make, but I had the clarity of thought to walk out of cricket and try my luck in acting.’ – Angad Bedi

‘My father and I always discuss cricket.’ – Angad Bedi

‘Switching from acting to cricket isn’t difficult, because I have represented Delhi in the under-19 category. Plus cricket is in my blood.’ – Angad Bedi

‘My motivation in personal and professional life is my dad because the way he has played and inspired many other players to play cricket the correct way. He had a great professional life and has always been an outspoken man.’ – Angad Bedi

‘Had I not got into acting and modeling, I would have been a part of the national cricket team. I’m a right-handed batsman and a pace bowler and have won lots of awards during my college and school days.’ – Sonu Sood

‘I would love to win a trophy for South Africa in white ball cricket.’ – Dale Steyn

‘In my opinion Test cricket is the best version of this game. It tests you mentally, physically, emotionally.’ – Dale Steyn

‘The more ‘A’ side cricket that can be played, it will keep the fringe of international cricket interested.’ – Dale Steyn

‘I think ‘A’ sides are extremely important, as close as you can get to international cricket. You are often playing against internationals from different countries and it definitely bridges the gap between our domestic game and international cricket.’ – Dale Steyn

‘South African cricket, we’re pretty resilient.’ – Dale Steyn

‘I want to play Test cricket until I die, seriously.’ – Dale Steyn

‘Traditional cricket has gone out of the window. It’s gone. T20 cricket has changed the game.’ – Dale Steyn

‘The workload with Test cricket was too much as I want to extend my career for as long as I can.’ – Dale Steyn

‘I love playing cricket. I wake up every morning and I can’t see myself doing anything else.’ – Dale Steyn

‘If you’re playing Test cricket you could bowl 20 overs in a day. I could play about five T20s in that space.’ – Dale Steyn

‘With Test cricket, it’s very important that you are bowling at high speed but T20 cricket is a great way to be versatile.’ – Dale Steyn

‘The biggest relief off my shoulders was when I retired from Test cricket and I knew I didn’t have to bowl 40 overs in a Test anymore.’ – Dale Steyn

‘It’s a cliche that cricket is the only unifying force in the Caribbean. It is but there are a lot of other factors that keep us apart. Success in sport and war will always unite but you need to have a greater foundation and greater core.’ – Brian Lara

‘The highest-ranked team in the world has the responsibility to ensure that the integrity of the game is upheld every single time they play. And that the spirit of cricket is with them every time they enter the field.’ – Brian Lara

‘Tendulkar has had the greatest cricket career of anyone who has ever played the game.’ – Brian Lara

‘Yes, golf is a weird game. I was capable of dealing with moving and bouncing cricket balls, but this little silly ball, sitting on the ground, gave me quite a headache early on for few years, but taught me how to be disciplined in controlling the ball.’ – Brian Lara

‘Pretty early, when I started playing golf, I was compared to Garfield Sobers, who played both cricket and golf.’ – Brian Lara

‘In cricket, you should keep your wrist as straight as possible, unlike golf.’ – Brian Lara

‘I believe cricket is a harder game. If at age six you started both sports you’d excel at golf more.’ – Brian Lara

‘I am always committed to West Indies cricket.’ – Brian Lara

‘The most unfortunate thing in cricket is not achieving what I set out to do from the very beginning: to be a part of a successful team over a long period of time. I had a little taste of it when I started in 1989, and up till 1995.’ – Brian Lara

‘It has been a great honour to play for the West Indies, to hold a bat and to spend 17 years in international cricket. That is something I am proud of.’ – Brian Lara

‘I know the history of West Indies cricket and I know what it means to the people.’ – Brian Lara

‘A high-profile player has to toe the line and I try to lead by example. A lot of guys appreciate that, and it is an advantage to have somebody as captain whom the players feel they can look up to; somebody whose door they can knock on to talk about anything on cricket or life.’ – Brian Lara

‘Cricket is my life and it has been since the age of five so the first opportunity I get, I’ll be back playing for West Indies.’ – Brian Lara

‘I have had a craze for football since my schooldays; more than cricket I love football.’ – Kalabhavan Mani

‘My secondary schooling was at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, so I’m fond of that part of the world. It’s quintessentially English, with village greens, pubs and cricket pitches, and resonates strongly with me.’ – Chris de Burgh