So Pakistan, I believe when we won that match, you called home immediately after that.

Yes, it was a huge moment. We beat them in 1992, 1996, 1999, and 2003. Four  times in a row was big, by any standards.

Another match against Pakistan, Sachin. I know you will be asked this question always. The declaration at 194, what exactly happened?

Yeah, I got a message from the dressing room that try and get to your double hundred as quickly as possible. I said ‘yeah, ok’ and we decided on a particular target, and then we declared. We kind of declared before the target. So I went back to the dressing room, I just sat down, got my pads off and all that. I just sat there. When I was asked in the evening, were you surprised, were you not happy, it was natural to say that yes I was surprised, because we had decided something else. But I said that the team comes first...it was just blown out of proportion.

No arguments?

Both me and Rahul, we sat together, and we said ‘we are not going to take this beyond this evening’. I mean the matter is over, and we are in the middle of a Test match. We can’t let this affect the Test match. And I said, ‘As far as from my side, the commitment and involvement is concerned, you will not find even 0.1 per cent where I am lacking’. And it was over.

... contd.