'I've never seen myself as anybody famous'
Dale Steyn on relationships, his beard, how growing up in the bush shaped him, and what attracted him to fast bowling
Everybody has adrenaline. I don't know what it is about fast bowling. I guess it's the ability to do something that nobody else can really do. Not a lot of people can run in and bowl really fast, you know. So that's a nice thing, knowing that you are part of a small percentage of people in the world who are able to do that, and that's a great feeling.
That has everything to do with who I am, and who I am is part of the way I play my cricket. I come across as quite aggressive and quite in people's faces and everything like that, but I know where to draw the line. And that was purely from the background where I grew up in, a very humble background. My family all live in the bush, still stay there in Phalaborwa. It's a small town, but is very much in the bush.
"Nowadays I'm more appreciative of nature rather than being a game-hunter. I don't particularly like it anymore"
No, my dad has never been to India. I think he has only been overseas once before. I think it's different to India. I don't know, maybe it's different to the world, but they have never really been approached by anybody, so it's not even like a conscious effort.
He just keeps me grounded. We get along very well. We got along really well when I was a kid because we enjoyed the same things. We enjoyed the bush, fishing, our hunting trips. Nowadays I'm more appreciative of nature rather than being a game-hunter. I don't particularly like it anymore. So we shared a lot of common interests. And sport was one thing that he was really good at when he was younger, and loves massively. Everybody in my family loves sport. We kind of clicked on that level.
No, it never gets to the head, man. Because I have never seen myself as anybody like that. Never ever seen myself as anybody that's famous, and I'm only human, man. I'm no different to you, no different to the person that's feeding peanuts to somebody with a spoon [points across the lobby]. This is just what I do. I mean it's really fortunate that I'm really good at it, but it doesn't make me any better of a human being over anybody else.
No, I haven't. I was in a long-standing relationship. Not everything is true on Google (smiles).
I think it's really difficult for women to be involved with sportsmen that travel, or men to be involved with men or women, whoever it may be. I am not worried about that sexist thing.
"When I am off the field, I am the calm, very quiet kind of easy-sailing ocean, and then when I am on a hot streak with a cricket ball, I can be the most disastrous waters you have ever been in"
Fortunately now, I have gotten to a point where I have visited India so many times. I have been around the world. I have been to every country that cricket has to offer. So now I'm getting tired of going home and telling people about it, like, "Oh, you should have seen me when I was in the Caribbean. How cool it was!", or, "When I was in India…" like that.
I took a main course last year, finished that and looking to up that again. I didn't bring my camera this time to India, because I knew I had people coming over, so they were going to consume most of my time. Some guys often bring a PlayStation or a guitar or something. I try [to play the guitar], but I am not as good as I would hope to be. It's just something that keeps you busy. It's really cool if you are going to live by yourself.
It's extremely difficult to be active in this stuff if you are not at home. It's hard enough to try and see my family. So I do what I can, when I can. Fortunately we have got this beautiful thing called Twitter, and it can create massive awareness because I have got a decent following - over a million followers - and Instagram, too. I have got quite some followers, so I have got a group of people I can get the word out to. And that's my way of contributing. So if I can't go to a function somewhere or if I can't go and do a talk somewhere, I can still get the word out to people who themselves couldn't get there.
There's been many, man. The best ones are after wins and after losses. Around fires, drunk, or in the jacuzzi, drunk, at three in the morning. I don't know, man. It can happen anywhere. You can be sitting down at lunch time, and it breaks out into good cricket conversation. It's not like they are things that I remember, like a hole-in-one on a golf course or something. More like getting a par on a golf course. They happen all the time. There is nothing that really stands out for me.
I think the most misunderstood part is that economy rates are not what they used to be anymore. So I think we need to shy away from comparing current players bowling on small grounds with big bats with field restrictions to bowlers that bowled in the past, those who could bowl ten overs and go for 20. And that was like the standard.
My beard. It's very overrated.
I have heard about it. I have never seen it. I am sure people say it looks worse in real life, so when you watch it on TV it's not that bad. In real life, it's probably way worse.
Would I? Well, I wouldn't tell you if I was going to do that now, would I? (smiles)
Every day. It happens every day.
There are so many. The worst one I have ever done is the best one that has ever happened to me. I swore at a guy when I was in high school, and I was playing in a cricket team that had a lot of senior guys in it. Some of the guys were even 20 years older than me, and when I got him out I swore at him, said something really ugly. I was young, I was 16 or 17, and my team-mates walked up to me and then walked away from me. I felt really small. I felt embarrassed and shy. I think it was the best lesson to learn. You had to make that mistake to realise that it's not the way to do something, so that's the worst one I have ever done. And the best thing, because I learnt I didn't have to do that to get into a player's face. That was a good lesson learnt.
I think the ocean is amazing. It can be flat and still and very quiet and calm, and then in the worst seas it can be scary, and it's got that ability to change very quickly. It's also got the ability to offer you a lot of things in life. You can fish and eat. It's got that ability to take that away from you very quickly.
Arun Venugopal is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo