Cricketers From India

"We had won many trophies before and after that like the team under MSD are winning now. But the joy of that day is something different. May be because it was the first time we had won the coveted World Cup. Each year for these 30 years, I start receiving phone calls and texts from the night of June 24 the way I receive the same for my birthday!"

"Test cricket is for batsmen, not bowlers. Bowlers are like slaves," Kapil Dev."

"If I can do something for the game and the young cricketers through the ICL, I will not budge"

"...his mother was very old, and his father was no longer alive -- hence there cannot be another Kapil Dev!"

"It appeared as if the whole nation stood up to greet me in Ahmedabad on my taking the 432nd wicket. The country was proud and that made me really happy...This was the first time in my life I realized what it is to be the number 1 in the world. It is a heady feeling almost out of the world."

"I don’t tell myself I am a hero. People do look up to performers and think of them as heroes...Hero worship in India is too big. It is both right and wrong. It is fair to respect people who have done things that others haven’t but it is not right to traet them as gods."

"Look, if you take the best batting team in the world, they too will have their weaknesses -- otherwise, wouldn't they win all the time? You mention any team to me, and I will pick out for you a dozen weaknesses. But that is not the point -- these things, like fielding, running between wickets, all these are technical things, they can be learnt and practised."

"What is required is self-belief, most importantly. And secondly, you should be ready to listen, to be strong to acknowledge what your weakness is, and learn, improve... If you have that, then all this that you are talking about, fielding, running between wickets, they are all minor things..."

"...the joy of winning the World Cup cannot be compared with any amount of money"

"Well, the Caribbeans were far superior on paper but we could utilize the English conditions better during the tournament. Mind you, we had won against bigger opponents, matches after matches. I think nobody can deny that. How could then it be termed as a fluke?"

"When we returned [to] India, we realised how the countrymen had celebrated the win! Everybody was over the moon. Some of them said that the August 15, 1947 came back."

"...that if you want to do something, achieve something, you can't be thinking all the time of what you don't have... I don't have an opening batsman, I don't have a fast bowler, I don't have an all-rounder... You think like this and you are telling yourself you can't win. You have to see what you have, and then plan how to use it the best way you can, that is how to win games. Not this business of 'we don't have an all-rounder so we are not a balanced team!"

"If you stand under a mountain and look up, you will get a bad pain in the neck. If you look at the ground and take one step, and then another step, then you come to a little bump. You think of how to climb over it; then you find a gap and you jump over it and you go on like that, one step at a time, and suddenly, you find yourself standing on top of the mountain."

"Tournaments like the World Cup, they are a bit like that -- you can't start out by thinking of how you will play the final at Lord's. You look at your first opponent and you think how to defeat him, then you think of your next opponent. It doesn't matter who you think you might meet in the final, you should only think of your next match. That is the only way to win a tournament, that is what we did in 1983, we played one match at a time..."

"India didn’t play particularly well, but if you ask me I would say my best memory is we beat eventual winners Pakistan in a league match. It’s not a positive memory for me, but to say we beat the team which held the trophy makes me feel better."

"The uniforms are my other memory. In the beginning, they looked odd. In the cricket world, we were used to playing in whites. Back then, the world was changing, television was changing and you needed people to see more colour. So, I think they did a great thing.""

"Back then, people were calling it pyjama cricket, but I think if you look back, you have to change yourself with the time and I think the administrators did the right thing. Now you look at Cricket World Cup as colourful and that’s because of 1992. It represents national pride and everybody has their own colours to identify themselves with and be proud,” said Kapil, for whom the 1992 edition was the last World Cup."

"An all-round cricketer of charismatic brilliance."

"The BCCI acknowledges Mr. Kapil Dev's immense contribution to Indian cricket and looks forward to a fruitful association with him in the years to come."

"I have no regrets. Whatever happens, happens for good. I have done everything I could on a cricket field. 10 wickets in a match… A century… 600 wickets… Captaincy… I have done everything."

"Nobody told me when to retire. Sourav (Ganguly) took his decision, I took my own decision, there was no pressure. Let`s leave it to the individuals. Criticism is fine but don`t do it without reason. Don`t start questioning the ability of the players. There is no retirement scheme, that`s rubbish."

"...not just cricket, but the success of athletes in other sports have helped India become a sporting nation."

"For years, we thought we are a sporting nation but we had little to show. In the last decade, India's sporting success has changed all that."

"The improved performances at Commonwealth Games, London Olympics and world tournaments by chess, billiards, snooker badminton and tennis players are evidence of the improved progress that we have made."

"Other sports can take a cue from cricket too. A generation ago, if anybody had suggested that a player from Ranchi would lead India one day, he would have been laughed at."

"In 1990 as a teenager I took my first step in cricket and was eager for some kind words in the cricketing world and I then I came across a comment from an accomplished Indian cricket. I quote 'This lad I don't see him winning Test match for India either at home or abroad. He rarely turns the ball, at best he can be restrictive'. The assessment came from Mr Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Two decades of international cricket and 619 Test wicket later, it is indeed a great honour to address this lecture."

"The first question that I was asked on my post retirement was how does it feel to finish with 619 wickets without spinning the ball. I said it is nice that it took 18 years to realise that."

"India cricket team realised its number one status, we won the Twenty20 World Cup, The 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy. I am proud to be a part of the core group that laid the foundation."

"No bowler in history won India more Test matches than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn't been a harder trier either. Like the great tall wrist spinners Bill O'Reilly and his own idol BS Chandrasekhar, Kumble traded the leg spinner's proverbial yo-yo for a spear, as the ball hacked through the air rather than hanging in it and came off the pitch with a kick rather than a kink. The method provided him stunning success, particularly on Indian soil, where his deliveries burst like packets of water upon the feeblest hint of a crack, and more than one modern-day batsman remarked that there was no more difficult challenge in cricket than handling Kumble on a wearing surface."

"Kumble's prodigious capacity to bear pain was proved in Antigua in 2002 when he bandaged his fractured jaw to deliver a stirring spell, and that to continuously learn in the mid-2000s when, after a decade of middling away performances, he influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston, using an improved googly, bigger sidespin and more variation in flight and on the crease."

"If Kumble was born in Australia or England, he would have got much more prominence in world cricket considering his superb record in both forms of the game. Kumble is definitely the best role model for any youngster entering the game."

"I would like to congratulate Anil for his long and successful career. He is a great competitor and every single player of my team, who has played against him, is proud of the cricketer. I wish he enjoys his time after the game."

"It`s truly an honour and privilege to have played in the same era. He will remain an inspiration for the next generations. To become another Anil Kumble one will have to work really, really hard. I have not come across a greater cricketer, who is good so dedicated to his work. –"

"He is an extraordinary man with extraordinary career. It`s been a privilege to play with him. It was emotional for all of us but it`s a great time to celebrate the farewell of one of India`s greatest cricketers."

"Anil Kumble is a true fighter, always had this never-say-die attitude and is thoroughly a true gentleman. He never got involved in any controversy and whatever he did he did it to the best of his abilities. He is a great ambassador of cricket."

"He is a thorough gentleman, very strong manners."

"He must have decided (to retire) during the course of the day. He spoke to me during tea time and said that he has decided to call it quits. It`s the end of an era. A lot of players in the team, I cannot tell you the names, were in tears when he told them his decision. It was an emotional moment for the team and me. He was an extraordinary cricketer, a great role model, not only for the youngsters but also for the future generations."

"He is a fantastic a cricketer and a human being who played his game in the right spirit throughout his career. It is a sad day for Indian cricket. It actually came as a shock to us. We will have to wait and watch, how India copes up without Kumble."

"It is very difficult for somebody to get into his shoes. He is a cricketer who never compromised his dignity and always played with determination. –"

"Kumble was a real, out and out professional. It is definitely a sad day for Indian cricket. You won`t realise the impact of his retirement now but when you won`t hear his name after some days, you will his void. He decided to retire absolutely at the right time. A few days back I wrote in a column that you don`t have to tell Kumble when to retire because being a true gentleman he knows when to take the call. Kumble left the game with utmost respect. He showed his true sportsmanship in Australia. –"

"It is the right time for him to retire, the best time that Kumble would have looked for. He has done a great job for India and is leaving on a high. He has made his debut under me in the state. He has been a dedicated, sincere, honest, disciplined and good thinking and a great champion cricketer and on the basis on these I can say that I have literally seen him grow and establish himself as a icon and a legendary cricketer both on the field and off it."

"Nobody is going to be his successor, no one can replace Kumble. He is one of the finest leg-spinners in the world. Over the years he had developed variety in his bowling by working hard. I rate him very high. I do not think it was because of any sort of pressure. Media is going to be with you every time. If you play well they will praise you and they will criticise you if you play badly. And I think Kumble has taken it well in his stride. At the end of the day he is a gentleman."

"Statutory Warning:These stunts have been performed by an expert.Please don't try at home."

""If you get Dravid, great. If you get Sachin, brilliant. If you get Laxman, it’s a miracle.”"

"Always the artist, never the superstar."

"You have to see VVS Laxman bat to understand his magic."

"You didn't bowl badly,you just came up against best batsman of spin bowling that i have ever seen."

"Laxman could potentially play shots on either side of the wicket to any given ball."

"I enjoyed Laxman's batting from the other end.It was like watching highlights package."

"When he walks in, whether you are batting in the middle or sitting in the pavilion and a wicket has fallen, he brings calm to the whole dressing room. I, personally, get a feeling of calm and solidity, not because Laxman will always score but because you know that he will never let you down in terms of effort: you know that he is there and he will pull his weight. There is no higher compliment. You know he has the requisite quality, and that he can read situations well. He has turned up in every circumstance: bad pitches, good pitches, when setting a total or after the opposition has piled up a big score."