Q. How are you paying attention to fitness during Covid-19?
A. The first thing is I got a lot of time with my family like never before since I started playing. I got involved in commentary in February, in coaching and then travelling has always been a part of our life, so during this lockdown I have found time to be at home. The children are very happy as they have mummy and papa with them for 24×7. The school and the academy are all closed, so it is necessary to keep the children busy at home. So, I put a tennis ball in the socks and tied it up like we all used to do in childhood. As you know my father and brother have played cricket, so we too started.
Q. Going on your excellent track records, do you think you played less ODIs?
A. Every player is never satisfied with his career or himself. I am not satisfied but I am also very proud of myself that I played for all these years. Every year I played a cricket match, it was very good. Even when I played for India, it was also very good and it was also very memorable. I also toured many countries and visited Pakistan in 2004 and then a great South Africa moment. I have left an impression in the minds of people and people will remember that thing.
Q. Sometimes, it felt like you didn’t get a chance even after doing so well.
A. It happened many times. I scored and I did not get a chance to play continuously. I did not get a chance to play again and again. This hurts everyone because you want that when you are in form and also when you are trying your best. It did not happen to me because the rest of the players who were with me were very great. They were very big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Virendra Sehwag and playing with all these players, making a place with them is great in itself. It was a competition to make a place with them, so when I played, I always supported them.
Q. You played during the golden era of Indian cricket. This was the pride moment for all of you because it was very difficult to form a team that would take everyone along. How did this happen for the players?
A. Yes, it was a transitional time. Around 2000-01, when we were playing, there were many new players in the team and there were some old players. Things had become very difficult at that time, after which our fans were very upset. It was disappointing, but we made a team of our own and strengthened it.
Q. Do you ever miss Allahabad’s gol gappe, tikki chaat?
A. Absolutely! Allahabad is such a place where you forget about your health and dieting. Go to Allahabad, visit all the malls, eat all the foods and because Allahabad is a small city, then there is a lot of time left even after roaming there.
Q. When we talk about best fielders, Mohammad Kaif’s name invariably comes up. How did you earn this?
A. There will be a mention of Allahabad here. It is said that if you want to learn, you have to fall and it happened to me in the same way. Any fielder has to suffer a lot of pain. So that feeling of pain was reduced to me because I had fallen and slipped so much during rains in Allahabad. I had not felt so much pain and then I achieved that point.
Q. Matches are not happening in Covid-19 and we all know that you are very fond of movies. Tell us about that.
A. Yes, I am very fond of movies and now there is also a lockdown. Many such new apps have come where we can watch movies including Netflix.
