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.

Fitness is also about being well-rested, eating well, etc.

When kids are 15 or 16, they should be playing more sports. I played football, basketball, cricket... Name any sport, and I played it.

For somebody like me who doesn't bowl, it's important to contribute in the field, and I've worked hard on that, slip catching.

Whenever I get opportunities at the top of the order, that's the position I enjoy.

I have had to work really hard at white-ball cricket. It doesn't come naturally to me, I was a slow batsman; I worked hard on my game and fitness.

2018 was magical for me as far as IPL is concerned.

I obviously respect the opportunity I have got to play for the country.

Sometimes, you tend to hold back, maybe because you have lost a few wickets or something. But when I bat, I'm never shy of doing what my mind says.

While growing up, I used to go to the beach, as I used to find peace there.