It's important what you can do for your team. Even if you score 30-40, if it contributes to team's victory, then it is always memorable.
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Besides being a sportsman, I am also a human being.
As my parents are from India, I am told a lot of positive things about the country, the culture and traditions of Muslims in India. I don't remember anything nasty told to me by my parents.
The pressures of playing in the World Cup are different, but it was because we coped with them in 1992 under Imran Khan's guidance and influence that we won the Cup.
Playing Test cricket for one's country is the ultimate, but people are enjoying Twenty20 format because everything will be over within three hours.
Off the field, both India and Pakistan enjoy a healthy relationship, and that's the way it should be - friends off the field and fierce competitors on it.
Trust yourself in tight situations, but you need to have a plan. You might fail once, twice, but you will get better at it.
Even a good batsman requires a year or so in test cricket to settle down and play long innings.
In the one-dayers, it boils down to who performs better on the day of the match.
I am not a big supporter of sledging or insults that are hurled at you. But I don't mind if a bowler glares or stares at the batsmen. During my career, I have faced these situations numerous times.
Any team can't give top performance all year round.
If someone says to me, 'You are a cheat, and Pakistan is doing wrong things,' my first priority is to my country.
When I look back and think about it, I feel my career was fairly good but, certainly, not tremendous.
We cannot stop anyone from criticising us.
In 2004, we were in a rebuilding phase after the disastrous 2003 World Cup campaign, and the batsmen, in particular, did not know where they would bat or what was their role. For example, in the one-dayers, we were playing Shahid Afridi on top of the order, but we didn't consider him for the Tests.
Once you reach the knockout stage of a World Cup, the team that holds its nerves wins.
Critics tend to praise as well as crucify you.
Adjusting to life without cricket hasn't been very tough.
As more we play cricket, the more players will learn from it.
World Cup 2003 was the worst phase in my career, but that is now behind me, and I am doing all-out efforts to get my place in the team back and further my career.
If someone drops a catch, and I get angry, will that catch come back to us? It won't. Therefore, it is better to be cool, because that helps in better performance.
Cricket is a team game. No individual can just say he can win it on his own.
Every team goes through a lean patch.
In the past, when we toured countries like Australia or South Africa, we struggled, but we also got to learn a lot, and we learnt to cope with pressure.
I've never linked team selection to offering prayers, and reports suggesting otherwise are all wrong.
It's up to the individual to decide when he wants to quit.
If you don't have bounce on the pitch, even a spinner cannot come handy.
It's always special playing in Australia and New Zealand.
A tour to India is different from other tours. The expectations to win are very high from our own people, and defeats and poor performances are not forgotten easily.
I have had a fulfilling career for Pakistan, although our poor performance in the 2007 World Cup would remain the lowest point of my career.
It's not as if I never used to get under pressure. That is nonsense. It's just that my looks gave an appearance, and people didn't think I was tense.
We can't take such unfair criticism. It would be difficult for me to continue as captain if this unhealthy trend of demoralising the team after a few bad performances continues.
No one can deny there is a lot of pressure when Pakistan and India play, especially with the expectations of the fans at home.
When you have confidence, the atmosphere in the dressing room also improves.
I never really sought out the captaincy at any stage in my career. Now that it has been handed to me, I would obviously like to do it justice and keep performing well. The day I stop performing will be the day I happily relinquish the role.
I think there is no better way for our players to improve and learn to perform under pressure than playing regularly with India.
The thing that forced me to think about my retirement was that I had played my cricket with honour and distinction, and I did not want to put myself in a position where I was considered a liability or unwanted by the selectors.
As a player, you have to assess how fit you are and look at your performance graph - how long you are delivering. Take Imran Khan's case: he played till 39.
I want to develop an atmosphere where the selectors, captain, and coach are on the same page because, unless this happens, there will be no turnaround in our cricket.
Criticism is natural; it's just that you have to deal with it positively and use it to improve.
I think most people thought that because I am quite reserved and private, I wouldn't make a good captain.
Imran never lost faith in us as players, individually and as a team, and that gave us the confidence to win. He was a leader par excellence, and Pakistan have seen none like him.
The pressure of an India-Pakistan game is immense.
Being chief selector has been the most challenging role of my cricket career, as I was heavily criticised for my decisions, and I couldn't respond much.
I can't leave cricket. It is my passion.
As chief selector, I did my best to pick new talent and give them proper opportunities, as they are the future of Pakistan cricket.
It is not my domain to speak on pitches, but they play an important role in producing quality players in every format.
Once you start feeling the pressure, you start to struggle. That is the beauty of Indo-Pak cricket contests.
Regardless of where we play, we should play India on regular basis.
Throughout my career, we beat India in many matches, but for some reason, we never managed to get the better of them in World Cup matches, and it remains a disappointment for me.
