Look, I was the captain of India for five years. I was one of the stars, a popular face in India.
— Sourav Ganguly
When I was captain, John Wright was making all the decisions and I followed like an obedient student.
There's one must in life: whatever job you do, wherever you are, whatever age you have, how much experience you have, you have to keep performing at the top level otherwise someone else will take your place.
You have just got to live life and let others live.
Playing on the field is different from providing inputs sitting in the dugout.
Kohli is a flag bearer of Indian cricket.
You don't want to turn up like a Nepal or an Ireland where the entire world thinks that you're not going to win. You rather turn up like an India or an Australia or an England where everybody says this team is going to win the World Cup.
When I go around in Kolkata, I do not get hassled.
Ravindra Jadeja should not be in the World Cup team.
Ball-tampering has happened before. Bowlers and fielders have found different ways to get the ball roughened up on one side.
You can call it my bias or love for Harbhajan but if you are picking three best spinners in the country, he's got to be among them. Harbhajan is one bowler who should be playing all three formats of the game.
I have got lot of faith in Virat Kohli. Whatever I've seen of him from the ground or TV, it gives me a lot of confidence.
The battle to win - on the pitch and in the boardroom - begins and ends in one's head.
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.
It's Twenty20, anything can happen in the format. It's very difficult to predict and pick a favourite team in this format.
I have lot of hopes from Virat Kohli and nation believes in him.
There is no doubt that Nathan Lyon is a great spinner but so were Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Graeme Swann.
We Indians react under pressure.
In your journey to the tag of winning-at-all-costs you can still behave, you can still do the right things by not crossing the line. Lot of champions have done it. Look at Rahul Dravid, Steve Waugh.
A strong India is very, very important for world cricket.
We are all human beings. We are not machines that everything you put in comes out perfect.
I have many, many fond memories of Yuvraj Singh. He started under my captaincy.
Wrist spinners have been successful in world cricket. Look at Shane Warne.
Pakistan always play well in England.
My first trip as a captain against Pakistan in 2003 - we had never won there before, but then we won both the Test Matches and One-Days.
Age is never a factor if talent is there.
I was at the Wimbledon some time back and I saw Roger Federer play.
India, Pakistan series has always been decided by the government. We toured in 2003-04 when I was the captain and it was for the first time since 1989-90 that we toured Pakistan. There were times even in those days when the series was planned but would get cancelled. So you have to leave it to the government.
One of my favourite sportsmen was Diego Maradona and every time I saw him play football you could see the passion in the heart.
My captaincy model was characterised by two distinctive pillars. Proper identification of talent and then ensuring the young finds play fearless cricket.
Captains are always criticised.
I cherish my entire life. I've been blessed with a life full of good memories.
When Virat Kohli plays, wherever you are you will come and watch that because he is playing. That is his impact. When you look at him, you will get to know that this man has a mission of making his team the best.
England has some very good cricketers. And don't rule West Indies out. They have some explosive players.
Twenty20 is must for cricket. Without T20, cricket cannot survive.
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.
Look at Virat Kohli, he is such a fantastic role model. India is a fortunate country. Every generation produces players who all of us cherish.
I really liked the biopic of Milkha Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Kohli is the greatest chaser by far and I am saying this keeping in mind the great man Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin was special but as far as chasing is concerned, Kohli has done better than Sachin. Kohli is unreal.
The most important thing in IPL is to select the players. You don't get much time to develop a team so it's important to pick the right players.
I am a very quiet person off the field, very laidback like a lot of Bengalis.
My memories of playing against Pakistan have been happy times for India.
You can't be chasing 338 and still have 5 wickets in the end. It's about mindset and the way you look at the game.
A life of a sportsperson is approximately 14-15 years long and fatigue will be a part of it, but they have to manage that.
The moment a spinner gets turn he becomes dangerous.
I am a big fan of Virat Kohli. He is a captain who always wants to win matches on the field and I love that passion in him.
I was inspired by the way the Aussies played their cricket. It was no-holds barred. They played to win.
No matter what, Test cricket will survive. I've always said Twenty20 would be popular but there will be a place for Test cricket.
For me life is simple and consistent.
I wanted to take away the fear of failure from the youngsters because when I came into the Indian team I faced that pressure.
