Ravichandran Ashwin has been out of India’s limited over series squad post tour of West Indies. Spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel have been tried and tested in the recent series. Ashwin is raring to make a comeback on the side after his County stint for Worcestershire. Ashwin’s county experience might come in handy keeping in mind the ICC World Cup 2019 is in England & Wales. With the young spinners doing well in the recent matches, there is tough competition for Ashwin to win back his place in the side.
“I know one day the opportunity will come knocking on my door because I haven’t done too much wrong. When I get that opportunity, I’ll probably rise to the occasion,” Ashwin said in an interview with Cricbuzz.
Ashwin backs the process
“The day I become a decision maker, I’ll probably be in a better position to answer that question. I’m not a decision maker, as of now. I have never played for the crowds. I enjoy my game and even if I am playing a fifth-division match, I’ll enjoy it a lot. The atmosphere doesn’t matter. Obviously, I’ll raise my game to the occasion but I definitely love playing the game so I am not missing anything at all,” he added.
“I’m a man of the system. Any system put in place I strive to the best of my abilities to try and match up to it,” said Ashwin. “Every leader has his own vision of how to bring the team about, and this is the vision of the current leadership group. It’s very important to respect it. If I was a leader, I would expect everyone else to respect it.”
Ashwin’s training-
“I have been doing some great conditioning ever since I missed the IPL (Indian Premier League). I have trained pretty madly. I am completely in compliance with whatever they do,” he said.
Ashwin’s plans
“I would have loved to bat higher in a one-day game and try to do justice to my potential… but you never know. I have a fair number of years left in me as a cricketer. I never rule anything out and I never take anything for granted.”
How Ashwin happened to play County Cricket
“It’s my attitude that landed me there [England]. For me, it’s all about playing cricket. I have missed the IPL and I missed a fair amount of cricket this year due to injuries and due to unfortunate happenings in the combination of the team or whatever you may want to call it. I had been in touch with a few guys in England and they had been asking me (to play county cricket).”
“One such message landed in my inbox one day and I didn’t even know that I wasn’t playing the ODI series (Australia). I just said I would be interested to be there. Eventually, it all worked out, and the club I went to was one of the best clubs there,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin has proved his mettle over and over again. Indian skipper Virat Kohli is trying new combinations ahead of the World Cup and is expected to bring in Ashwin along with Ravindra Jadeja in the upcoming series.
