'My only wish is to give one cricketer to India' - Patil

You've to accept to fact that I am 50 now - 50 down and 50 to go.

Getting a chance to play for India, scoring my first Test hundred, winning the World Cup in 1983 are just some of the drops in the ocean. On the personal front, it is my marriage to my second wife Deepa. It's been the high point of my life.

I think I wasted the talent which I had. I let down so many people and that is why I'm in a better position today, as a coach, to understand and explain the problems to youngsters what I went through and the mistakes I made.

No, I am out of all that. I've become opposite now: from a party animal I've become hardly social anymore.

It gives you the kick. When you are young you've that josh (passion) whereas now the josh has gone and I've come back to my hosh (senses).

I was absolutely fortunate, first, that I was picked to play for Bombay at a time when there were stalwarts like Sudhir Naik, Sunil Gavaskar, Ashok Mankad, Eknath Solkar, Karsan Ghavri, Ramnath Parkar. To play alongside all these guys I must've had great luck. Then, of course, I was lucky to play for the country as there are so many thousands who've talent, but to be picked out of those thousands, I was damn lucky.

Yes, today also, as a coach, there are butterflies in my stomach which was the same when I entered the ground for the first time as a player. You can never take it easy. You cannot be a winner in cricket - you have to try hard; You have to get up and start fresh as every day is a new day.

Actually, bit boring.

I am really enjoying giving my expert comments on TV, but I'm surprised that people have accepted me, and more than me, my Hindi.

Discipline and the sense of time.

Sunil Gavaskar once commented that he would like to exchange his technique to my strokes. And it was nice to captain him at Nirlon and Sachin Tendulkar at CCI and Sungrace Mafatlal.

We've to accept the fact that one day you have to take the backseat. I never had a goal in cricket as such. Even afterwards I didn't make use of the many opportunities that came my way. I was in business; I was editor of a Marathi fortnightly; I cut a disc; I did a movie; I moved to commentating and then coaching. So there was nothing like one goal in my life. I just took things as they came in my way. And, probably, I did not do justice. Personally I feel you should've one goal and not ten.

I don't know. I must've handled it well as I have so many friends now.

If you are human then it'll be wrong on anybody's part to say that it never got to my head. Yes, I was a show off. But today I realised how stupid I was, how wrong I was. Now the time has gone and by the time you've realised time has gone and it is all over.

I feel so sad for today's generation. It is wrong for me to comment because today's youth is different. I don't know in reality whether today's cricketers are really enjoying cricket in the true sense. I'm so happy that they are getting so much of money, endorsements and fame, but I don't know if they are enjoying the real fun of playing this game.

I love taking a challenge. For example, I've been coaching Oman, who were ranked 79 in the world rankings are now come up to 21 today. It is a different challenge between coaching a player who is established and coaching a player who is trying to establish himself. And I enjoy accepting this challenge as these players are willing to listen to me.

For me the 1971 Test series victories in the West Indies and England by Ajit Wadekar's team was the beginning. After 1983 World Cup triumph we started believing in ourselves, but according to me that had already started after 1971.

I wish I can give one cricketer to India.