
But eventually it is a game of cricket.
—Sachin Tendulkar
If you play good cricket, a lot of bad things get hidden.
—Kapil Dev Cricket is a team game. If you want fame for yourself, go play an individual game.
—Gautam GambhirYou don’t win or lose the games because of the 11 you select. You win or lose with what those 11 do on the field.
—Rahul DravidAnd I don’t watch cricket. How can you like a game that requires you to take four days off work to follow a Test?
—Thierry HenryBaseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended.
—George Bernard ShawI understand cricket—what’s going on, the scoring—but I can’t understand why.
—Bill BrysonCricket needs brightening up a bit. My solution is to let the players drink at the beginning of the game, not after. It always works in our picnic matches.
—Paul Hogan Indian cricket fans are manic-depressive in their treatment of their favorite teams. They elevate players to God-like status when their team performs well, ignoring obvious weaknesses; but when it loses, as any team must, the fall is equally steep, and every weakness is dissected.
—Raghuram RajanI was playing cricket first and my cricket coach was the one that introduced me to track and field.
—Usain BoltIt’s a funny kind of month, October. For the really keen cricket fan, it’s when you discover that your wife left you in May.
—Denis NordenMy whole obligation was to West Indies cricket. As I have always said, I have never made a run for me. Records meant nothing. The team was important.
—Garfield SobersThe only good thing about that decision, Gatt, is that I’ll get tea before you.
—Graham GoochA cricket ground is a flat piece of earth with some buildings around it.
—Richie Benaud
(This story appears in the 27 September, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)