On his early days of cricket:
I was supposed to be bright scholar in the school. I used to stand always first and I passed my final exam in the school.....and then ofcourse when I got into college, just by sheer accident I started playing cricket.
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On his record score of 324 in the Inter University final during 1958-59:
Well I think in those days ofcourse our team was really good. We had a wonderful batting line up and whenever we used to play our bowlers if we are to bat would go to the movies. So much confidence they had in our batting.
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On his long wait before making his Test debut:
Yes. Any cricketer would like to play as early as possible for the country. But I believe in those days it was a bit difficult to get into the Test team. Not only in the Test team but even in the Bombay team.
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On memories of his Test debut against the West Indies during 1966-67:
They had a formidable side. They had superstars like Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers and Clive Lloyd. It was a really good team. We are playing in Bombay and that is again my home ground.
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[Scorecard] [RB Kanhai] [Gary Sobers] [CH Lloyd]
On his being Captain of the super power Bombay team during 1968-69:
Yeah... playing for Bombay was really something prestigious. Infact, when I started playing for Bombay I think the glorious tenure or the period started for Bombay.
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On his becoming the Captain of the Indian team in 1971:
It was a big surprise. There was a fight between chandu Borde and
Nawab of Pataudi. In fact, that particular year I had hardly 2 or 3
centuries in domestic cricket.
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[CG Borde]
[Nawab Pataudi]
On his memories of victories in West Indies and England:
Well I was the captain and team was selected. We were branded as the weakest ever team from the Indian shore to go abroad and play matches. It is good to go as underdogs...
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[SM Gavaskar]
[GR Viswanath]
[ED Solkar] [SA Durani] [Jaisimha] [DN Sardesai] [EAS Prasanna] [BS Bedi] [Chandrasekhar] India in WI - Test2: [Scorecard] India in ENG - Test 3: [Scorecard]
On being Captain of Bombay as they ended as reigning champions in Ranji Trophy against Karnataka in 1973-74:
Well, somewhere I think it has to end. Law of averages does apply not only in cricket but in every sphere of life.....may be perhaps, we started playing with too much of over confidence.
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[Match Scorecard]
On what really went wrong in England in 1974:
I suppose everything went wrong. Firstly, I think the weather out
there for the first half of the season was the coldest. Infact our
main wicket taker and match winner Chandrasekhar could not hold the
ball.
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1st Test: [Scorecard]
2nd Test: [Scorecard]
3rd Test: [Scorecard]
On his premature end to Test Cricket:
I thought I was good enough to play for another couple of years or
something. I retired at the age of 32 and I think that looked pretty
young. Because in India I think nobody retires at that age.
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On his touch with the game as administrator and manager of the Indian team:
Once you are a sportsman you are always a sportsman, I think. When you
get up and read the newspaper the first thing you read is the last
page to keep to know about the sports and games.
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WC96: Semi Final1: [Match Scorecard]
On his advice to young cricketers who are starting up:
I suppose cricket is such a funny game that is not a machine and you don't get runs in every match, don't get wickets in every match. You have to keep on trying.
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