I totally enjoyed playing in Australia. I think they play very tough cricket, and the brand of cricket they play is very strong.

Everyone wants to perform.

I got some time off from international cricket so I could come back to India and reflect on what was not going right for me.

The more cricket you play in your head, the less you perform on the field. So let cricket, the sport, be on the field.

I have always enjoyed keeping. I used to keep earlier for my state and later didn't have much chance to keep. But I keep myself ready if ever anyone wants me to keep.

Fortunately, I got to play some India 'A' games, and some games where the pressure was a little less, so that I can focus on my skill and my technique.

You need to be mentally and physically very strong to go and perform in Australia.

You know when you go to Australia you will get sledged. That's the fun of the game.

T20 may be fast, but still, you never plan for a T20 - the same way you don't plan for the other formats.

Every player goes through rough patches.

If you are hitting the ball well, your form, your technique looks good, and when you are not, everything about your game looks bad. That is how it goes.

Every innings is important.

I've been successful when I have kept things simple - playing cricketing shots that I'm blessed with or I am good at playing.

If you are batting first as an opener, you give yourselves a couple of overs, see what's the wicket behaving, and then try to assess what a good score on that wicket would be, and then you plan accordingly.

As players, we look to prepare, and if opportunity comes by, we want to do well, both for ourselves and for team.

Working my way through different formats has not changed my batting approach much.

I would be proud if I can score as many runs as Rahul Dravid by the time I retire and serve the country as long as he did.

That's where I would love to bat, and I have always batted at the top of the order. Numbers one and two are what I am most comfortable in.

A good wrist spinner is a good wrist spinner against any opposition.

I am happy to playing against teams like South Africa and Australia early on in my career. It is going to make me stronger as a cricketer.

Playing Australia, of course, is always challenging.

Teams expect a lot from an opening batsman. It is a lot of responsibility.

I have always enjoyed keeping wickets, as it is something that comes very naturally to me.

About wicket-keeping, I have enjoyed whatever little bit I could do and contribute for RCB.

If you are feeling light, and you are not feeling tired in your body, you can obviously concentrate more.

I have always felt like I am a positive player.

At the highest level, you are playing the best from an opposing country, so the margin of error is very little.

The gap between first-class and international is mostly on the mental aspect.

I had to prepare hard for number four because that's not where I batted all my life.

I am only trying to improve as a player with each tournament, each game, each opportunity.

I know opportunities will come my way.

I enjoy wicket-keeping in the shorter format. I think when we are bowling first, it gives me an idea of how the wicket is behaving.

It's a team game, and you need to be flexible.

I have always been someone who takes things as they comes.

The dream of every kid is to play for the country, and I am no different.

Virat has helped me with my preparation, mindset, and he has given me a lot of confidence.

Having to play Test matches for a month and then switch to T20s in five days is not easy, but that's the kind of challenge I love to face.

I respect Test cricket a lot. Once I got into the Test team, I learnt so much about international cricket and realised it's not so different.

We, as sportsmen, we're not used to just sitting at home and being at home all day. We want to go out. We want to play sport. We want to be in the gym, want to train; we want to hit balls, and when you're not physically able to do that, it's really tough. It starts playing on the mind a lot more.

Each time I go back to bat, I will want to get more and more runs.

I've been consistent in all the three formats, and that's what I want to do as a cricketer.

If you get off to a good start, even if you get the run-rate down a bit in the middle overs, if you are set till the end, you can do the most damage.

I can get runs much faster if I stay there in the middle to give bowlers more time and cushion.

I never played for numbers.

Nobody wants to lose game.

As a team, you try to win - you try to push in as many overs you can - but that's how it's played.

I always knew I had the game to do well in every format. It was just a matter of time.

As an opening batsman, it's my responsibility to spend as much time in the middle as I can and try and get big scores in the first innings so that we don't have to bat in the second innings.

Every day, I want to be a winner. I want to train my best; I want to work my best.

I was a shy kid but also very mischievous. Because I looked super innocent, no one could really call me out on my pranks.