Self-confidence has always been one of my good qualities. I am always very confident. It is in my nature to be confident, to be aggressive. And it applies in my batting as well as wicketkeeping.

The more allrounders you have, the more difficult it becomes for the opposition. The reason being, if you have players who can bat and bowl, and if they are proper allrounders - they may be spinning or fast-bowling allrounders - they add to the strength of the team.

What's more important is, rather than looking at it from a commercial point of view, what we have to make sure is, where there's existence of the sport, it keeps on increasing there, and at the same time, you look at some of the other countries where there's the prospect of playing cricket.

You go through tough times. What I personally believe in is you should forget the stats. But also, it pushes you to see the areas where you have to work on to be a consistent team.

A lot of things have changed since I made my debut in 2004. The way cricket is played has changed. The kind of players that are coming in the Indian team are drastically different than what we were used to. My role is quite the same. You only evolve with time, and that's what I am trying to do.

My dad and my brother were more keen on football, but I used to play canvas-ball cricket while at school in Ranchi, and we would have cricket coaching camps in the summer vacations. That's how I started.

For me, fielding and running between the wickets are two things that are very important. For that, you need to motivate the guys about how much of an effect it will have on the game.

Getting up quite late in the morning, going and trying to clean my bikes - I have quite a few of them in Ranchi - spending some time with my family, my parents and friends. Going out for rides with my friends and having lunch or dinner at a roadside hotel - that's my favourite time-pass. These are the sort of things that really excite me.

What is important is to have a positive intent right from the start, and positive intent doesn't always mean looking for the big shots. Positive intention when it comes to defending a ball or looking for a single.

Finishing is one of the most difficult things to do in cricket. A player can't be a finisher in just 6 months or one year. You have to be used to that responsibility, keeping on doing what is required from you over a period of time.

You have to see that cricket is developing as a sport because what's very important is you want cricket to be a global sport when it comes to participation.