By his own admission, R. Ashwin doesn’t pull any punches. The off-spinner belongs to a rare breed of cricketers who are outspoken in an era where every move of a celebrity is monitored and analysed by the microscopic lens of social media.
“I don’t go to anybody and ask for trouble. If someone provokes me unnecessarily, I will never hold back,” said Ashwin referring to a recent incident in which he took Rodney Hogg to task for the former Australian cricketer’s “unfair” criticism on Twitter.
“I think I have always been like this. I mean no harm, but if you poke me you will get it back. Unfortunately, social media wasn’t there when Mr Hogg was playing, otherwise my father would have expressed his views. All I expect is basic human respect. Social media is good, but people should be more responsible. There is more good than bad in social media. During the recent floods in Chennai, it played a key role,” added Ashwin.
In a freewheeling chat with this newspaper, Ashwin also spoke on various issues.
Excerpts: Q. There has been a huge clampdown on bowlers with suspect action by the ICC and the majority of wrongdoers are off-spinners. Can doosra be bowled without bending the arm I don’t think doosra can ever be bowled with a straight-arm. So far, I haven’t seen anyone demonstrating it. Until we see an exception, we have to stick to the line of saying it’s difficult to bowl that delivery with a straight-arm. I have seen a whole lot of Pakistani fans hammering me on Twitter just because Saeed Ajmal was suspended for suspect action.
It’s a bit of a hatred coming from across the border. I am very sure that I have a clean action and I don’t have doosra in my arsenal either. As long as umpires are happy, I have nothing to worry about.
Q. Virat Kohli recently said those who have not played for the country shouldn’t criticise. How do you react when ex-India cricketers criticise your performance First of all, I would like to see whether it’s a paid article or non-paid. If the article is purely aimed at my improvement, I have no qualms in taking it in my stride. When the article’s focus is to put me down, I just dismiss it. I don’t shy away from reading negative stuff.
Q. Of the 32 captains who have led India in Test matches, only four — S. Venkataraghavan, B.S. Bedi, Ghulam Ahmed and Anil Kumble — have been pure bowlers. Kumble recently said there has been a bias against bowler-captains Before touching up on the bias, let me first tell you this. Virat is one of the finest captains I have seen in my career. Not just in terms of strategy, the way he handles his players and the way he tries to push people towards excellence, he has exhibited great leadership skills. At this stage, I haven’t been thrown up with any responsibility. If I get, I am sure, I will handle it with the same seriousness as my game. As of now, I am in a good space, bowling the best I can and batting to the best of my ability. As of now, my only goal is to be the team’s best asset.
However, it’s quite an anomaly that bowlers are not made captains across the world, not just in India. At the end of the day, a captain’s role is to handle the bowlers and the field set-up. I don’t see any reason why a bowler can’t do that better than a batsman. It remains a surprise to me. Maybe the world has accepted it and the media has given its seal of approval. The best example is Shane Warne. I think he is one of the finest captains cricket never had. There is also a fear that bowler-captain may overbowl or underbowl.
Q. After a dismal Ranji season, Tamil Nadu made it to the knockouts of the domestic one-day tournament under your leadership. You constantly tinkered with the batting line-up, which critics say could be one of the reasons for the failure in the semi-finals against Gujarat. I like to break the predictability. If a bowler can open the bowling and also come in at the death, a batsman should also be open to that. The last time I captained, we won two years in a row (2009 and 2010). We did really well. But this time, there was some shortfall when it came to the team’s all-round ability. The lack of experience was also a problem.
Q. Another Australian tour is round the corner. It always comes with a lot of hype Whenever India go to Australia, there has always been talks about me. ‘How am I going to perform in away conditions ’ This time, I think, it will be an interesting tour. I always believe the start is very important in Australia. We will be playing in such conditions that once you go down, it’s difficult to make a comeback. And with the World T20 coming up, the limited-overs tour will be a good stage for identification.
Q. After seven successful seasons with CSK, you will be turning out for Pune in the next IPL. Will you be missing Chennai Leaving CSK is something the fans are really emotional about. But it’s not in my hands. Being a professional, I am entitled to play wherever I go to.
I will be embracing my new owners and the franchise. It’s going to be for a two-year period and I don’t know what will happen to CSK after that. I hope CSK will be back for the people of Chennai.
