India’s top off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that MS Dhoni has had a ‘deep impact’ on his career and wanted to attract the attention of the former captain in his early years in the Indian Premier League.
Ravichandran Ashwin debuted in IPL in 2009 with Chennai Super Kings (CSK), one of the most successful teams in the IPL. Ashwin said his time with CSK gave direction to his career.
Ashwin told Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz,
“IPL and CSK is a stage that everyone wants. For me it was more about recognition. MSD did not know who Ashwin is, (Matthew) Hayden and (Muttiah) Muralitharan did not know who Ashwin is. The first thing that came to my mind was that ‘I will show these people that Ashwin is here’,”
“I don’t know it was being foolish or arrogance but that was how I was made. Nobody was giving me a chance that Ashwin will play alongside Muralitharan or ahead of Muralitharan. I thought, I will get there ahead of him one day,” Ashwin added.
Wanted to impress MS Dhoni: Ashwin
Ashwin said that MS Dhoni had a ‘deep influence’ on him. He wanted to impress him and the only way to impress him was to trouble him in the nets.
“I got the eye of Hayden, Jacob Oram, and Stephen Fleming while bowling to them at the nets. They were finding it difficult to face me in the first year (2008) but I had not caught the eye of MSD.”
“I never had massive interactions with him. It was going to the nets and getting MSD…he was hitting Muralitharan out of the park and I thought, if I bowl better than him, I met to get to play ahead of Murali. I got his attention when I got him during a Challenger trophy and celebrated like a crazy kid,”
During this interview, Ravichandran Ashwin reveals that once he let down MS Dhoni in Champions League 2010.
Ashwin achieved good success against left-handed batsmen and out of his 365 wickets, 189 wickets belong to left-handed batsmen. Ashwin attributed his success to his engineering background and Duncan Fletcher’s advice.
Follow Sweep Cricket for more updates.
