The Surfer

That knock gave me the confidence that what I was doing in domestic cricket, I could do at the international level as well. Equally important, it changed our mindset as a team. It instilled in us the belief that we must never give up. If 167 changed the way I viewed cricket, 281 altered the cricket world's perception of India. To have played my part in that process, and to have scored consistently heavily against the best bowling attack of my time, against the best team of that era, is a memory I will cherish forever. During my career, the team was to be in such situations many times later, including in Adelaide in 2003-04. We remembered what happened in Kolkata, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So much youth cricket is of a limited-overs nature, and when a game gets tight picking a leg-spinner is considered a gamble not worth taking. Winning the game becomes the over-riding mantra and the "millions of runs" that a young Mushtaq or a fledgling Warne might concede could be costly.

But the more a young leg-spinner is shunned, the more he doubts himself, and given that by its very nature the leggie's action is the most fragile, the most likely to break down, it seems to be so thoroughly defeatist to drain that player's confidence by turning to an off-spinner or a seamer for the sake of economy.

"Several generations of Indian batsmen, including the current crop and the old masters in the commentator's box, have grievously chased balls that head towards the slips after pitching. It's a given that before an India game, the rivals plot to attack the off-stump, pitch it up and move the ball away. Meanwhile, the fielding coaches pay special attention to the slip cordon and wicketkeepers sweat it out as they practice holding onto fine edges."

Like in a game of cricket where everyone likes a fair contest between bat and ball, SLC has not had a clean election for nearly a decade. Both Thilanga and Jayantha are good choices for the presidency each having their own style of running things - the former being dynamic and dominant and the latter very matured and rather laid back but firm in his decision-making.

What would you put in Room 101? [Small Talk hastily explains the concept] Well, it would be the word awesome. That is overused. I hate that bloody word. That or legend. Everyone nowadays seems to be a bloody legend. Some kid'll came up and say, "Can I have your autograph, you're a legend." Mate have a look at this - see, two arms, two legs, I'm not a legend, I'm the same as everybody else.

I've bowled it a lot throughout the age groups. When T20 cricket first came about, I used to watch various teams and when Pakistan won the T20 World Cup in England in 2009, I watched them very closely. One guy that really caught my eye was Umar Gul. I remember he did really well in South Africa as well, he had that long hair and that was Umar Gul in Twenty20s at his best. Recently, he hasn't been bowling the yorkers very much but he had this period of two to three years where he bowled devastating yorkers. He bowled them continuously and didn't stop. He thought, 'I'm just going to bowl yorkers.' Even if you try to hit them, you can't.

We all enjoy a flutter - nearly three-quarters of the general adult population do apparently - and it has never been easier to do so. Everywhere you turn, there seems to be an invitation to make a bet. For most that is not a problem. But for about one per cent of the population, for roughly 451,000 people, it is not. It is a dangerous addiction.