'I can play at any situation, any number'

You were asked to open during the South Africa series. Was the transition from the middle order to opening easy?
It was in the Cape Town Test match where Dhoni had got injured. They put me in the XI and then Rahul bhai asked me the next morning if I could open, and I opened against a decent South African attack [Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis] and I got runs. Probably that gave them the faith to continue with me as an opener in Bangladesh, where I did well again. Then came the England series where I was successful so it all kind of got set up very well.

What did you have to tell yourself in order to adjust?
The most important thing was to back myself and believe. At times when you transform yourself and when you've opened too much, you tend to doubt how you're going to face it, how you're going to react to a situation, so it's important that you believe yourself.

Ravi Shastri, who was the interim manager during the Bangladesh series, was very impressed by your attitude at playing at any position.
I've always believed in myself. Playing at different positions is a challenge, and I've always believed that I can play in any situation and at any number in the batting order. If you are a good player and if you are good enough to be at that level, you should back yourself to show that you can perform in all situations.

But has this openness worked against you in any way, this lack of a fixed position?
Not really, because I've batted at No. 7 lot of times, and for my state, Tamil Nadu, I've always batted three and four. I've also now got many runs in Test cricket as an opener. A lot of people might say because I've batted three in ODIs and failed, I'm not good enough, but I still believe that if I get the rub of the green to go my way, and if a few things fall in place for me, I can definitely pick it up.

These things tend to happen. It's not that every position you bat at, you're going to always perform. The most important thing you need to keep in mind when you get back and practise is what is required at a particular level, so that next time if they send you there, you need to be performing.

Your one-day position seems a bit insecure.
I guess in a country like India, where after Rahul Dravid fails in four matches people start talking about insecurity... it's too trivial a word, insecurity. The challenge to perform is always going to be there in the Indian team more than any other team.

You've already sat out once and then fought your way back with good domestic performances. Do you think that experience will help if you are dropped again?
In those two years out of the Indian team I learned more than I did when I was in the team. I came back a much stronger man. And if it does happen again, I'm pretty confident I'll come back stronger once again.

Have you worked the faults out for yourself?
I'm sure there is a reason for me not doing well. It could be mental, it could be technical. There is a lot of trial and error when it comes to skill work, so you need to try something and you need to believe in what you are trying and believe in yourself to be able to give it a few chances out there in the middle, and if you fail you have to know where you went wrong. The problem here is, if you are trying something in the middle and if you fail in even a couple of innings, that could be the last innings. You are always under that kind of pressure, so, you want to get back to your basics - the times when you batted best before, but at times that might not suit where you are batting right now.

How much of a difference has Dhoni keeping wickets made to you? Do you miss keeping?
It helped me open the batting, because if I had been keeping and opening, it would definitely have been tough. But because he was keeping, I realised that I had to put in scores that were as good as a pure batsman. And there was that bit more pressure - of people accepting a keeper as a batsman.

I guess people have accepted me as a batsman, but the important part is to be consistent. I do enjoy wicketkeeping but fielding is a new challenge and I enjoy it a lot.

What kind of adjustments will you, as an opener, need to make to adjust to playing in Australia later this year?
Playing in Australia against Australia is the toughest challenge for an opener. For starters there'll be more bounce, so probably I'll need to stand up in the stance a little more. That's one thing I can think of as of now.

You can only do so much technically. There have been a lot of players who were not technically very sound but survived the rigours of international cricket with mental ability. Glenn McGrath is 15 per cent skill and the rest is in the mind, so that's true.

You just try and react instinctively to what comes your way. You've got to prepare yourself in such a way that your instincts come out good every time you go out there.

India don't have a coach at present. How does that affect you as a player?
Personally I've done well when we had a coach and also, like in England during the Test series, when we didn't have a coach. But a team would love to have a person travelling with them, someone who knows what the team needs in every situation. Every country we travel presents a different challenge and a coach will help keep us in a better frame of mind.

Having a full-time coach would be fantastic because at the end of the day you need to have someone who's there with the team for a long time rather than somebody who just comes and goes. That way it's tough to trust that person who comes for a period of time enough to tell him about your problems and try and get better.

It's been a busy year so far. What are the lessons you've learned so far?
I went through a honeymoon period in the first half. The second part is where things have stabilised, and I've come back to reality now. The work now for me is to get through this reality and hit the honeymoon again before the year ends.

You've started travelling with your wife. How much of a difference has that made?
It definitely makes a difference, especially in tough times like now where I'm not doing great on the field.

I'm a person who sometimes tends to worry too much about cricket. Previously I would think about the game for probably 15 hours, but now with the presence of my wife it has come down to ten hours, and I would like to bring that down to about nine. I try my best to chill out, but it is tough. I'm sure every cricketer has gone through what I'm going through: constantly thinking about getting better, how to get runs at every level. But if you want to get runs it's very important to relax, chill out, have a life other than cricket, enjoy yourself, keep smiling, be happy. These are all key things that add up to your cricket, and I forgot that a little bit. But I'm getting back.