Gaekwad (first from left) at a winter cricket tournament with Ajay Jadeja and Sandeep Patil in 2009 © AFP

A thin red line. That's what a ball looks like when it comes from the hands of a Michael Holding or an Andy Roberts.

Being India's coach was more difficult than facing up to a tearaway. There are egos and you need to get their confidence. That takes a long time.

I would wear my father's India cap and play with my friends when he was away. I enjoyed wearing the cap and would bat with one of his bats. Once he saw me doing that and fired me. He said: "If you want to wear this cap, you will have to work hard for that."

The best thing is to watch the ball. You watch the ball, you watch the seam. You cannot always read it from the bowler's hand.

Gavaskar was the best opener, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes the best opening combination, Sunil and Ramnath Parkar the best Indian opening pair - they never called for a run, their understanding was brilliant.

Cricket has been my guidebook to life.

There was no helmet, no chest guard, no arm guard, and my spectacles had become part of my physical being. The spectacles broke twice. First, when I tried to sweep, a shot I never used to play, against a spinner at the Baroda nets, and the second time in Kingston, Jamaica in that infamous Test of 1976. It did not define my career - that innings of 81 retired hurt. It made others realise how good I was. Back in the dressing room, Sunny [Gavaskar], frustrated and upset, had said, "Bloody hell, I don't want to get killed here. I want to go back and see my son." That was around the time Rohan, his son, was born.

First, technique; second, patience; third, determination; fourth, courage - qualities you require to be a successful opening batsman.

India has this pattern or strategy of ruining careers by promoting good middle-order batsmen. Here you go up the order and, from the top, you go out and never come back.

I still believe match-fixing is not possible. If it exists, there has to be a [collective] deviation from the plans we have worked out. I will not deny individual fixing, though.

"The most difficult bowler is one who makes you think all the time"

Both Gavaskar and the manager, Polly Umrigar, were impressed by my courage and technique in a side game before that Jamaica Test and asked me to open. I got a hundred and then I turned into an opener.

The most difficult bowler is one who makes you think all the time. Andy Roberts was one, Mike Hendrick was another - he used to place bets with his team-mates, saying he would offer them drinks if he bowled a half-volley. The fastest bowler I faced was a chap called Hartley Alleyne from Barbados.

When I came back as the interim coach after Kapil had stepped down in the aftermath of the match-fixing episode, I was left asking, am I not good, or I am good but you don't want me?

Vishy was the best Indian batsman on a difficult track.

I could play the shots, but I followed the selectors' advice to cut down on my shots and guard one end so that a Sunny or a Vishy could play his shots.

I would alter my stance, my position in the crease, to make myself comfortable and force the bowler to change his line and length. Javed Miandad did this effectively, even if he was ugly to watch.

You have to keep proving your worth every day.

Around 1998 [Rahul] Dravid used to get out by playing on. I showed him his bat was coming from the outside and advised him to correct it even if he was getting the runs. He still faces the same problem at times. The coach's duty is to point a mistake out in time, as the correction takes a hell of a long time when the player is going through a bad patch.

The moment we lose we take the captain and coach to task. Why not the team? It is in [Indian] nature to not revolt.

I feared getting out early but never feared getting hurt.

This interview was first published in Cricinfo Magazine in May 2007. Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

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