Michael Dalvi, who played first class cricket for Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Bengal, once hit a century against a fiery Malcolm Marshall and the West Indies. At 77, he has a razor sharp memory, a ready wit and is a rare cricketing treasure.
'You can be a great actress, incredibly good looking, have a huge body of work, have National awards... but until you make a mark in a Hindi project, people will not bother.'
In an exclusive chat with rediff.com Materazzi throws light on his team's rise in the ISL and the camaraderie among his players.
'Of the 32 captains who have led India in Test cricket, only four have been pure bowlers -- Ghulam Ahmed, Venkatraghavan, Bishan Bedi and myself.' 'The captain must lead with only one idea in mind -- to win the game. The draw mentality is partly because captains lacked confidence and partly because they want to protect their record. If you don't think winning is the point of the game, there is little point in even entering the field.' 'As the Monekygate controversy raged, I received a message from Bishen Bedi, no stranger to controversies himself. "As a captain," he wrote, "take a decision you will be proud of when you look back on history".' Anil Kumble, cricketing legend, on the Art of Captaincy.
'If fame, money and comfort are the only factors that drive us, then we are playing cricket for entirely the wrong reasons.'