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

•When you come from my kind of background, it’s not easy to adjust to new things. I remember the time when I was a nobody. Now it’s all different. It is a realisation of what the positive and negative side of success is. Only for my family, I never change. My parents, brother and my sister can say anything to me but I’ll always be the same Irfan for them. My sister treats me like a kid and they’re all the most essential part of my being. I think it’s important be happy in your personal life for your professional life to be good.

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...

... contd.