Lessons from cricket and college

I had a mathematics exam to write today. It's tough to juggle studies and cricket - if there is a practice session in the morning I go to the nets and completely forget my studies. Towards the end of the session it pricks me a little - the time spent - and I start getting the feeling that I need to get back to my books. Once I'm home, I'm tired and I have to write down things so that I don't get sleepy or bored.

I keep writing till I fall asleep. I don't believe in staying up late. By 10.30 or 11 pm I'm out like a light. But I'm up at 4am again to do my work.

It doesn't affect me going into a match. The mental preparation for a game is very important. Once I'm done with an exam it's out of my mind. When I have time to think entirely about cricket I feel really happy and relieved. Already, I feel I'm into tomorrow's game. It's only when I'm out of cricket for a period, like a month, when it's a terrible time in a cricketer's life. In a year I miss out on two or two-and-a-half months of cricket. That's the off season for a cricketer, a time to work on skills, prepare yourself, and I don't get that because I need to study too.

To a large extent studies do matter. Not for personal life, but life in cricket. I'm experiencing it now. I'm able to make out the difference in my cricket since I started studying engineering. I can't explain how or why, but once I've started to do engineering my cricket has gone up by leaps and bounds. Initially it was tough to adjust. But once I got used to the on-off way of things, my thinking and my stability in mindset has gone up.

I wasn't a very good student till school but that's probably because we were spoon-fed subjects. Once cricket and engineering came together I was not attending all the lectures but had to keep up with the syllabus and do all the learning myself. When you're in form you're happy and want to go out there and play everyday. It's like that with studying. Once you learn something and develop your thinking, you want to study more. That sharp thinking is very essential in cricket. I tell kids that, those who are 10 or 12 years old and come to the nets at Chemplast.

You have to take cricket as education. Then you'll enjoy it. If you see it as a game full of pressure, where you have to deliver runs or wickets every day, then cricket and education become separate.

After writing an exam today I relish going to the ground because I get the feeling I can be a master at my game. Even if I've studied all there is to study, I get a nervous and twitchy feeling before the exam. Till I get the question paper I'm nervous. This somehow gives me a little bit extra when I'm on the field. I'm able to make decisions on the field just a bit quicker.

Bombay getting the better of Karnataka was a huge surprise. They're a relatively young side with players like [Ajinkya] Rahane, [Iqbal] Abdullah and Prashant Naik. I've played with all these players at the Under-17 levels. It's great to see players like this progress along. We're at a stage when India is looking at the next generation and this makes it a very interesting phase in domestic cricket. There are batsmen in the Indian team who may play only for three years or so. Someone performing well in domestic cricket might not get a break immediately, but in two or three years there are going to be spots.

Towards the end of the careers, senior cricketers may play only Tests. This means they'll be available for Ranji matches. It would be ideal if the Sachins and Rahuls played domestic cricket for a season at least even after they quit international cricket. It will make people like me understand where I stand against people who have made it to the next level.