Though I come from a family that has never produced a cricketer, my entire childhood revolved around the sport. Every morning and afternoon I could be seen working out at the local nets, fine-tuning the drives and cuts. I would also put in a lot of effort to improve my fielding skills. Thankfully, no one in my family ever came in the way. All of them were very supportive, and my younger sister, who I am very close to, never complained when I stayed away from home for long stretches at a time because of the matches.

My family lives in the Karol Bagh area of New Delhi. My father is a businessman and my mother is a housewife.

As a child, I was very naughty and would get into all sorts of trouble in our neighbourhood. I was part of a close-knit group of friends. They were always there to back me up if anything went wrong. We played a lot of cricket and breaking windows was almost second nature to us.

My best friend, Vivek, and I would often bunk classes to go for a movie we really wanted to watch. But all that changed once my focus shifted to cricket. My life moved from one practice session to another. I completed Class XII from Modern School on Barakhamba Road. By that time I hardly got to go to school since I was already in the state under- 16 team. I got my first double century against Punjab in an under-19 match. That is one happy moment I still cherish.

I relax by listening to music or watching movies. At times, I go out for long drives. If there’s one thing I regret now, it’s that I lost out on quality time with my family. But, I suppose that that is one compromise that every professional cricketer has to make at some point of time in his childhood. So, when I’m not playing now, I try to spend as much time as possible at home. Having dinner together at night — nothing can be more wonderful than that.