“It's an honour but I have not fought elections. Neither did I go chasing anyone to please make an MP. It's an honour and I accept it with full respect.
“Parliament was a new experience and I am learning all the while,”
“My mind right now is on cricket to be honest. When the time comes I will start thinking in that direction but I should not forget the reason why all these things have happened in my life. All these things have happened because of cricket.
“It's an honour and privilege to play for India for such a long time. I am happy with anything that happens around cricket and I am happy about being made a Rajya Sabha MP, but cricket is in the foreground for sure. It is paramount.”
The Little Master once again squashed any rumours of retirement saying he will retire when the time comes.
“It will come when it has to come.”
The 39-year-old said he wants to enjoy his game and denied any plans of focusing on playing one format.
“I have not thought about it at this stage. The next ODI for India is a long time way, in December, so I am open minded as I always have been and look to enjoy my game right now.”
The Mumbai batsman praised Duncan Fletcher considering it has not been a great year for the India coach.
“Duncan has been really good. Sometimes it happens (bad results) to the best of sides. I feel he's doing a fantastic job. It was a testing time for him and everyone when he came in.
“He dealt with it brilliantly, kept his calm and at the same time he kept trying to see how we could improve, what we could do better. He never lost his patience. It wasn't an easy period for anyone, for coach, player or the team to deal with the kind of season we had. But Duncan controlled everything quite nicely.”