"I feel that when I retire is something that I would decide, because when I started it was not decided by someone else. Those who are advising me about retirement did not bring me in the team."
On retirement
"Sports is not like a government job. You can't be forced to retire at the age of 60 and then go on to work at a private firm till you are 70 or 75! As long as you are fit and performing on the field, age is not a factor."
On retirement questions
"There is too much of politics in India and India cannot survive with too much of politics on a day-to-day basis. System should be above politics and it is applicable to every ministry."
On resignation from Railway ministry
"Doesn't matter how many hundreds you've scored, you still have to put your head down and score for the team. Dreams do come true. I had to wait for one for 22 years (the World Cup)."
On completing 100 international centuries
"Sir Donald Bradman was great but for me the greatest batsman to have ever played the game is Sachin Tendulkar."
On greatest batsman
"I am sorry you are behaving like petulant children. Don't behave like petulant children, behave like leaders."
UPA in crisis
"I do not feel someone has been silenced or there has been any disaster for free speech. I think on the positive side it has launched a debate about the way politicians are failing to support freedom of writers"
On Salman Rushdie's Jaipur Literary fest
"The woman's name should not be published, particularly if she is unmarried in the case of sexual assault, then her chances of getting married will get jeopardised.
"
On crime reporting
"In this Parliament, rapists are sitting, murderers and looters are sitting. How can you expect Jan Lokpal Bill to be passed by Parliament?"
On Jan Lokpal Bill
"The atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because these NGOs mostly, I think, based in the US, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase energy."
On Kudankulam n-plant protests
"It's not that I don't feel pressure. It's just that I don't show it."
On pressure is captaincy
"I struggle with words and expressions to put out to express what I do sincerely believe in. But they come with great difficulty. How does one find something more than just a 'thank you'. The two words are so limited, yet so precise"
On surgery
"Of course, I am the main culprit, so yes I blame myself"
"According to the PDP I'm a "headless chicken". I love it when they start panicking & get all desperate, it gives me a warm inner happiness."
On Headless chicken tag given by PDP
"It is strange that such events (Bhagvad Gota ban) are unfolding in the beautiful university city in Siberia, as Tomsk which is famous for its secularism and religious tolerance."
On Bhagvad Gita ban in Russia
"I am sure that the government of Tamil Nadu is equally committed to protect and provide safety to people from Kerala in Tamil Nadu"
Mullaperiyar Dam Dispute
"They (fans) deserve our respect and let us not take them for granted. Disrespecting fans is disrespecting the game."
On Test cricket
"I think I have let myself go, so the change is evident, both in my personal as well as professional life"
"I didn't want to be a mere figurehead, that's not how I work."
On quitting from NCA Chairman post
"I am not homosexual, whosoever written it must have gone mad"
Issue Dated: Feb 5, 2017
