Ravichandran Ashwin is a player who never shies away from talking his heart out. The star India spinner recently once again made it to the headlines for his candid take on the relationship Indian players share with each other on and off the field.
Speaking to Indian Express in an interview, Ashwin opened up about the loneliness of cricketers and went on to make a startling revelation. The Tamil Nadu off-spinner said that the teammates in the current era are no more your friends as they used to be once. He instead termed them colleagues who compete to move past you. Further in the interaction, Ashwin also confessed that it’s an isolated journey for players in the team, and they don’t even share experiences with each other as it should happen in a sport like cricket.
“This is an era where everybody is a colleague. Once upon a time when cricket was played, all your teammates were friends. Now, they’re colleagues. There’s a big difference because here people are there to advance themselves and to stride ahead of another person sitting to your right or left. So nobody’s got the time to say, ‘okay, boss what are you up to?’,” said Ashwin.
“In fact, I believe cricket gets better when you share it. It gets better when you when you understand another person’s technique and another person’s journey. But it doesn’t happen anywhere close to how much it must happen. Nobody will come for your help. It’s an isolated journey. Of course, you can reach any professional you want to, tap into some coach, you can pay and go, practice, try to feed of them and all that. But sometimes we forget that cricket is a very self-taught sport,” he added.
It is worth mentioning that Ashwin was part of India’s World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 Final squad but didn’t find a place in the playing eleven of the summit clash despite being the world’s no. 1 ranked Test bowler. The decision to drop him was criticised by many veteran cricketers, including the likes of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting etc.
In the meantime, Ashwin is currently leading Dindigul Dragon (DD) in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2023, with no Team India matches until next month. The 36-year-old is likely to return to action at the international level when India tours West Indies for a multi-format tour in July.
