AB de Villiers Quotes

Shoaib Akhtar has been playing for 5, 6 years and is an experienced bowler.

When I came into Test cricket, I was good but not as good as I am now.

I now have a better understanding of my game than what it was in 2013 in my first year in Test cricket.

Since coming into T20s, I have improved a lot in the death overs.

If someone thinks, 'I'll spend the off season working on my fitness and I'll come back a better cricketer,' I don't think that's enough. You need to spend a lot of time working on your skills and honing your skills.

When I was growing up, I played a lot of ten- and 12-over games, and I would bat in the middle order. I got only ten-odd balls to face, and I tried to score as much as I could. I applied the same approach in domestic and international cricket, and people were appreciating my strike rate being more than 80 or 90 in Test cricket.

I respect Test cricket a lot. Once I got into the Test team, I learnt so much about international cricket and realised it's not so different.

In the past, I bowled at players like Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.

The best players of the world play in the IPL, and to bowl to them in T20 cricket isn't easy.

Batting with Dhoni is always a dream for me.

I just wanted to become a better player at everything - someone who is a real tough matchup to guard.

Fortunately, I got to play some India 'A' games, and some games where the pressure was a little less, so that I can focus on my skill and my technique.

We all know just bowling won't do in modern international cricket, and we have to contribute with the bat and as a fielder, too.

Malinga has been a legend for Sri Lankan cricket, and he has done great in international cricket in all formats.

The best player I've played with would be Graeme Swann, just because he's proved that regular finger-spinners can take wickets in international cricket for England.

I am happy to playing against teams like South Africa and Australia early on in my career. It is going to make me stronger as a cricketer.

I am someone who looks to imbibe things from Kohli, Mahi bhai, or Rohit. I always believe in watching and learning from them. I have interacted with them to help me improve as a cricketer.

It takes far less energy to move from first-rate performance to excellence than it does to move from incompetence to mediocrity.

If you're playing Test cricket you could bowl 20 overs in a day. I could play about five T20s in that space.

Players want to get better with their skill set and 3-point shooting, ballhandling, their bodies, whatever it is, but everything starts with a sense of urgency.

It was always a dream to play Test for India, and I was very happy when I got my first wicket.

The biggest thing was probably a better understanding of the mental side of cricket and also the technical challenges I have in my game. Those two things happened in a very short space of time which changed me as a player.

I have had the experience of playing in Sharjah, and it worked well for me.

Obviously you've got God-given talent to do things that a lot of people can't do but I actually put the body of work in to get stronger, get faster, trying to work on my technique, trying to do little things that people usually don't do, just trying to improve my game.

They come with a lot of strategies in international cricket. You face bowlers with a lot more pace.