Ravichandran Ashwin burst on the scene in the Indian Premier League and became a vital cog of the Chennai Super Kings line up. The off-spinner was a trump card for skipper MS Dhoni with the ball. His performances in the IPL led to his selection in the Indian squad in the limited over formats. Ashwin represented CSK from 2009-2015 in 121 matches and picked 120 wickets. He is still the highest wicket-taker for CSK in T20 matches. During his early days, Ashwin quickly realised that bowling in T20 is not an easy job that he initially thought.
During an ESPN podcast, Ashwin was chatting with former India player turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar. He spoke about being disappointed with CSK coach Stephen Fleming after he was dropped from the side in 2010. Ashwin recalled when he was dropped in 2010 after just two bad games which were like a “ hard slap”. He also revealed that Fleming did not even bother to talk to him and felt he was not backed enough.
Read More: Jasprit Bumrah Reveals His Favourite Batsman; Snubs Virat Kohli
“I had an issue with Stephen Fleming that he didn’t use to have chat. I valued him so much and he didn’t even have a chat with me. So I was sitting at home watching CSK games and making promises in my head that one day I will turn the tide,” Ashwin said.
He remembers the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2010 in which he was expensive and didn’t pick up any wicket. Robin Uthappa and Mark Boucher dominated him and Ashwin was dropped from the CSK squad.
“Robin Uthappa and Mark Boucher taught me harsh lessons as I bowled the 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th over at RCB. The youth in me never told me it was a challenge. I found it as an opportunity to pick wickets. I picked no wickets but went for 40-45 runs and put my team into a hole. In the next game, we lost in the Super over and we lost it and I was dropped,” the veteran spinner added.
Read More: Haris Rauf Picks Two Biggest Challenges For Him In The ICC T20 World Cup 2020
Ashwin was not even a part of the first 18 players in the squad. In those days IPL Franchise would release such players to save hotel cost. “After being dropped I vacated the team hotel and was sitting at home. I thought that I had deserved better as I was in the list of top 30 players of India for the 2010 T20 World Cup in West Indies”.
The spinner from Tamil Nadu, who has now picked 365 wickets from 71 Tests in his career but his performances in South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia hasn’t been great. Ravichandran Ashwin feels that somewhere he has been unlucky when bowling in alien conditions.
“Increasingly the numbers of games that I have played in England has made me realised that for a sinner bowling in alien conditions hoping to generate same numbers like his performances at home he needs to be bowling in all the right possible times of the match first. And secondly, you need a bit of luck as well,” Ashwin concluded.
