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The Cricket Interview/Robin Singh

'I don't think the umpiring was great in Pakistan...'

How do you think your own game has changed over the years, since your debut?

You have to be able to adapt, and the more you play the more you adapt. Everything depends on the situation, in one-day cricket. And you have to be able to adapt and play, if you don't, you won't do well, whether you are bowling or batting... it's the same thing even when you are fielding. And yes, I think I adapted over the years, well enough.

Fishing outside the offside seems to be India's eternal disease?

Why India, it's there with every team, you look at every batsman in the world, they are vulnerable outside off. Why do you want to talk about only Indian batsmen, what about the Pakistanis in Toronto? England against Australia? Australia against England? What about the West Indies? South Africa?

But if we know our ailment, why can't we cure ourselves of it?

Like I said, I think every batsman in the world is weak outside the off stump. Not even Saurav Ganguly is exempt, even he gets out outside the off stump. A batsman may be strong on the off side, but he can still be weak outside off stump. That I think is the most vulnerable spot in the world, whether a batsman is is right-handed or left-handed. If the bowler is able to bowl in that corridor, that blind spot, there are not many guys who can't be got out. Maybe on a particular day you don't get out, but in the long run, in your career, you get out more times in that region than in any other.

What do you think are your own strengths?

You ought to know what your strengths are, otherwise you cannot survive. I run well between the wickets, I tend to look for the singles and where I can, I hit the ball hard. You know where you are strong, in my case it is over the top, I do it whenever I can and that's good enough in one-day cricket. You cannot play ten shots, you have to choose and play the ones you are really good at. And again, it depends on the bowlers, who is bowling at the time.

One of your strengths that you didn't mention, is fitness....

Well, naturally you got to be fit to play, today there is so much cricket you hardly have a break -- two, three days tops. And in India it is so hot, it is very difficult to recover fast. So one has to definitely keep one's self fit, know how to keep fit. I don't mean just struggling with exercise routines and stuff, you should also be able to relax.

Today, the fittest guys in the side are you and Azhar, the two seniormost players. Does it bother you that the younger lot is not paying as much attention to fitness?

But we have played so much cricket. I have always been physically conscious, so there never was any extra effort. But once I got into the Indian team, it was more important to be fitter. And naturally, you have better facilities to work with at the higher level.

About the youngsters not playing attention to fitness, it hardly matters to me. The idea is to make sure that you are doing you job and that you are fit. You cannot bother about x or y. I keep saying this, you have to think about your own game. And yes, when you are playing for a team, you think about the team, sure. But that is in terms of their abilities, about how you mesh with them. Beyond that, why should you bother about anybody else? Why get distracted?

Okay, what are your weak points?

There are so many weaknesses, there is lot of scope for improvement in every field. I would rather not talk about them, why should I? I know what my weaknesses are, and will try and work on them. I think there is so much television now, that any mistake you make, people are able to pinpoint. I think 15, 20 years ago when we didn't have so many cameras around, very few people were able to work out strategies like that. Today you have people giving commentary, and talking about how x is weak here, y is weak here... and your opposition is listening too.

But then, think about this. You might know where a batsman is weak -- but if that is all there is to it, then you should be able to get him out for a duck each time, right? But really, how many teams can do it? How many teams can consistently get a batsman out on his weak point? Think about it, the next time. Remember, the opponent is also thinking, they also know, they also have gameplans.

Do you intend being around till the next World Cup?

Yes, I'd love to play the World Cup, I'll try my best, will keep doing better and better. Why only the World Cup, as long as I can play, do well, I would like to continue. You have to perform, and I intend to perform.

The betting ruckus, what are you own views on it?

I think it is junk. Yeah, everybody keeps saying there can be no smoke without fire, but I still say it is junk. The public sees anything, the public sees what they want to see. As I said, I am not bothered about that, as far as I am concerned, this betting thing in junk, I don't know anything about it.

But do you have a better explanation for losing those close matches?

Why, in one-day cricket you could go and get out first ball. it happens to the best batsman in the world, does it mean he took money in that particular game? It's easy to sit there before the television and say, he should be hitting the ball in that area, he should be pushing the singles in this direction, I would love to see them go out there and play against top quality sides needing to get five runs an over. It's then you know what the real pressures are. You find that 900 million are expecting you to do well, you know for a fact that you have to do well, you can't let your side down, there's so much pressure...

It's like writing an exam, you may know everything but yet in the hall you freeze, right? You go for an interview and somebody asks you a question, you can't remember the answer on the spur of the moment, you start fumbling and suddenly everything goes wrong...

It's very easy to say oh, we have lost a close game, and yes, true, we ought to win, that's natural, and everybody wants you to win, we understand the public wants us to win... even we want to win, we don't want to lose, because we know when we come out people come and abuse us.

It could be worse if you are playing for Pakistan.

Yeah, well, even that is an example of what crowd pressure can do to you. Everybody thought they would win the second game in Karachi, they lost... because they panicked. Basically, in the end you panic sometimes, or sometimes things don't work to your plan. You tend to play foolish shots because you are under so much pressure. It's a fact.

Why do players get out? When you go in, and five balls later you have not got a run, then the pressure begins to mount and next ball, you try to it to the boundary and you get out.

How is the feeling playing against Pakistan?

There is definitely more pressure, because you know the background. But again, what I am saying, if you let it get to you will lose, I think we have handled it quite well this time. Out of the eight games we played, we won five! We lost 2-1 in Pakistan, but there they had a different side, not the same as Toronto, I don't the umpiring was great in Pakistan either.

'It has not been easy for Sachin...'