All posts tagged: Ravichandran Ashwin interview

Champions Trophy | ‘What I don’t understand is the number of spinners…’: R Ashwin raises questions over India’s tactics | Cricket News

Champions Trophy | ‘What I don’t understand is the number of spinners…’: R Ashwin raises questions over India’s tactics | Cricket News

With the Indian team management naming five spinners in the form of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy in the final updated squad for Champion Trophy, former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has raised questions for Indian taking so many spinners to Dubai. While India had named Yashasvi Jaiswal in the provisional squad, the Mumbai batsman was excluded from the final squad with Chakravarthy making his way into the final squad. “What I don’t understand is the number of spinners we are taking to Dubai. Five spinners and we have made Yashasvi Jaiswal sit out. Yeah I understand that we take three or four spinners for a tour. But five spinners in Dubai? I don’t know. I think we are one spinner too many if not two. The two left-arm spinners are your best all-rounders alongside Hardik Pandya. So both Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja are going to play. Hardik will also play and Kuldeep will play. If you want Varun Chakravarthy in the team, then you will have to make …

‘Felt creative side didn’t have a lot of upsides to explore’: R Ashwin opens up about decision to retire | Cricket News

‘Felt creative side didn’t have a lot of upsides to explore’: R Ashwin opens up about decision to retire | Cricket News

Ravichandran Ashwin opened up on his retirement decision and said that he had considered hanging up his boots in the past, adding that he finally made that decision when he felt his creative side no longer had a future or direction. “I’ve never been a person who holds onto things, I’ve never felt insecure in life,” he added. “I don’t believe what is mine today is going to be mine tomorrow. That has probably been one of my elevating factors all these years,” Ashwin said in an interaction with Sky Sports. “I always wanted to leave things behind as nonchalantly as I can because I do not believe in people celebrating me, I don’t believe in the attention we get sometimes in India. It is the game that always stood ahead of me, all the time. I did contemplate (retirement) a few times. For me, the day I woke up and felt the creative side of me didn’t have a future or direction, that would be the day I would give it up. I suddenly …

I used to respond to pressure in past, but now wants to play with smile on face: R Ashwin | Cricket News

Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday said he has liberated himself from the clutches of external and internal pressure, and now he is just looking to play cricket “with a smile on face.” Ashwin made a back-on-the-wall hundred on the first day of the opening Test here against Bangladesh to rescue India from a precarious 144 for six in the company of an equally resolute Ravindra Jadeja. The 38-year-old leveraged on that innings to drive home the point that he now only responds to pressure situations on a cricket field, unlike in the past when he reacted to every needle-point. “I do enjoy and embrace pressure. There’s no doubt about it. It does give you opportunities to be able to be pushed to a corner and then try and respond. But I was critical too, earlier (of himself and others), because a lot of pressure has been put on me by people. I’ve put pressure on myself,” Ashwin told reporters on Friday. “The pressure I’ve always responded to – in answering someone, in a performance or in …

R Ashwin says perception of him as an ‘overthinker’ led to him missing out on leadership roles | Cricket News

Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the most calculating and shrewd cricketers to have played the sport for India, but the spinner believes that the tag of being an ‘overthinker’ has consistently worked to his detriment, to the point that it has cost him leadership opportunities in teams. In the recent five-match Test series against England at home, Ashwin crossed the 100th Test mark and also took his 500th Test wicket, both milestones that put him in exclusive clubs. However, despite all of his achievements with the ball and his ability to outthink opponents, Ashwin has not led teams too often in his career. On being asked at a recent Idea Exchange with The Indian Express if the ‘overthinker’ label has worked against him, Ashwin said: “Everybody has unique methods. A method that’s worked for me, will not work for (Ravindra) Jadeja. The cricket community likes to keep it really simple. Unless it’s completely broken, they wouldn’t try to mend it. India’s R Ashwin during the award ceremony after India won the fifth Test cricket match …