When you’re down, you don’t have too many friends...

•The toughest time was from the South Africa tour till I left for the World Cup. It was the worst phase of my career, and I hope I always see better days in the future. If you play so much Cricket continuously, perhaps this is bound to happen. You want to tell yourself it is a learning process, and to believe it. But as much as I may have told myself that, it was a disturbing time. Maybe it was my fault alone but I think a part of the blame must go on the hectic scheduling. It was only when I was given a break that I realised what could’ve been missing. Now, I am better prepared to handle it all.

You came from a very humble background but your life was changing fast. How did you cope with it?

But do occasional problems keep occurring? How many times has it happened that somebody close to you since childhood has said — ‘this boy has changed’?

•I travel a lot and therefore a lot of things change. I don’t spend a lot of time at home and I’m not regularly in touch with relatives and friends. At times, it is mistaken for arrogance. It gets very difficult for me to make people understand. Some of them must feel bad and I feel equally bad that I’m not able to give them more time. But that is the price one has to pay.

Tell us about your cricket. You seem to be in fine form now and things are looking brighter again...

• I have been given a certain role in the team and I’ve accepted it. They want me to take on different...