Q: You were India Emerging (U-23) captain nearly a decade back. Over the years, while putting up performances at domestic and IPL level, did you get anxious or angry that national call-up wasn’t coming?
A: I won’t say I got irritated but I would always think how I could be different to move to the next level. So hard work continued and you need to enjoy the game also. That’s why you started playing cricket. Whether it’s a simple training session or even the food that was healthy but I didn’t enjoy earlier, I started to savour it. I knew that if I stop thinking about outcomes and just focus on process, I would someday break the door.
Q: Your friend Sufiyan Sheikh said that at times you don’t wear thigh pads even when you face the best of fast bowlers. Is it true and what’s the reason for it?
A: In the World T20 in Australia, I was wearing thigh pads as it was the first time I was touring the country and it wasn’t a great idea (not wearing them) on those tracks with pace and bounce. But yes, on Indian tracks with low bounce, if I get a feeling that wearing thigh pads would hinder me from playing the shots that I love, then I don’t wear it.
Q: Can you explain us a bit about your 360-degree technique?
A: It is an interesting story. In my school and college days, I played a lot of rubber ball cricket. On hard cement tracks and on rainy days, those would bowl would come from 15 yards and most of them chucked (threw) really hard. Now rubber ball from 15 yards will come at 140 plus clicks and if the leg side the boundary would be 95 yards, the off-side would be only 25-30 yards. So in order to prevent off-side boundaries, most of them would bowl into my body in order to prevent me from getting easy boundaries on off-side. So manoeuvring my wrists, playing those pick-up pulls and upper cuts have come from those matches. I never try those in the nets. In the nets, I like practising normally and hearing the sound of the bat hitting the ball. If I feel good I come out.
Q: What kind of bond do you share with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma?
A: I am actually very lucky that I share dressing room with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They are a different breed of international cricketers. Things they have achieved, I don’t know I will be ever able to achieve that. Recently, I have had some good partnerships with Virat bhai and I have enjoyed batting with him. Rohit is like an elder brother and my sounding board. When I am in doubt, I ask him direct questions about my game. He has been a good guiding force since I joined MI in 2018.