• But being dropped from the one-day team must have been difficult?

To be honest, I think my most difficult phase was when I had a hamstring injury in 2003. And then I was dropped from the Kerala Ranji side. I thought it would be difficult for me to come back.

Now I have a dream life. I take things as they come, in a positive way. I am spending time with family and working out at the gym. I am also reading a lot. I recently read APJ Abdul Kalam, I prefer autobiographies.

But yes, I am disappointed at being dropped. But my focus is to improve my game. I know I have to improve a lot in one-dayers in all departments, in terms of my skill, mental aspect, everything. I can’t say I am an accomplished player.

• You were also involved in a few on-the-field incidents, barging into Michael Vaughan, bowling a beamer to Kevin Pietersen. What was going on?

About the beamer, it was not at all intentional. I actually tried to bowl a yorker with a lot of pace. Ask any fast bowler, he will tell you that if you want to bowl a yorker, you aim for the top of off-stump, so I was doing that. But of course, I am sorry about that incident. At the end of the day, I went across to Kevin and explained things to him. He took it in the right spirit. We are now great friends.

... contd.