'Proud to have played for India'

Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar with the Prudential World Cup in 1983.

Cricket was a dream I pursued from my school days. I realised I had to play cricket after watching some of my heroes, especially G. R. Viswanath.

I wanted to be like him. Sunil Gavaskar and Viswanath were players I looked up to. Cricket took me around the world and taught me many lessons in life. It was a gift to serve the game and the country and I feel extremely proud as very few are fortunate enough to represent their country at the international level.

When I started playing, we used to eagerly wait for our names to appear in the newspapers and magazines. Sportstar ran features on me quite a few times. I loved the

Sportstar Special that was brought out after I had overtaken Sir Richard Hadlee to became the highest wicket-takers in Test cricket.

The magazine always carry some outstanding pictures and posters and I remember many of my fellow players waiting eagerly to get featured in the magazine. It was a huge morale booster to be featured in magazines and newspapers those days.

(As told to Vijay Lokapally)