Top 45 Ravichandran Ashwin Quotes

When you turn up at a ground, you expect the wicket to behave in a certain fashion and it doesn’t. There are so many variables in this game. It becomes even more important when it comes to T20 cricket.

At the end of the day, however big or whatever I have achieved, if I am not able to enjoy what I really enjoy, then there is no point having this life.

Between 2018 and 2020, I contemplated giving up the sport at various points.

There are many people who believe in me and have backed me. I owe it to them – and not just to myself – to succeed when I step onto the field.

Parents need to realise that cricket now offers a decent standard of living and earning potential, and not just for international cricketers. They need to stop thinking they are taking a huge gamble with their child’s life if they let a child pursue sport as career.

I think the most complete performance has to be the spell I bowled in Bangladesh. In Fatullah. That was one heck of a spell. Bowled over a period of two days, maybe a bit more. That was a delight.

Honestly I don’t listen to lot of English music. I listen to lot of Bollywood music and my favourite singer is Shoaib Bhushan and my favourite musician is from down south is AR Rahman.

I have always enjoyed my cricket, be it home or abroad.

At 10 o’clock every night, I take my dogs for a walk. And sometimes people do see me on the road. I actually don’t bother a lot about what people think about what I am doing.

Towards the end of the careers, senior cricketers may play only Tests. This means they’ll be available for Ranji matches.

Even if I’ve studied all there is to study, I get a nervous and twitchy feeling before the exam. Till I get the question paper I’m nervous. This somehow gives me a little bit extra when I’m on the field. I’m able to make decisions on the field just a bit quicker.

I’m actually fighting my own benchmarks in a lot of ways. The number of games that I’ve managed to win for my country and for myself, the number of successes I’ve had and the excellence I’ve shown is always measured up in equal parlance when I travel away from the country, which is great.

I did give leg-spin a try as well. I used to play a lot of under-arm cricket in the streets of Chennai. I can spin the legbreak a mile. But when I tried it, a lot of people discouraged me saying it was very difficult.

I wanted to make myself the most valuable player by making my presence felt at the decisive moments.

I am not usually fussy about food but sometimes on overseas tours if I get bored I take a cooker and some rice and enjoy some curd rice.

Whether it is my return to Test or not, I have always bowled with heart and soul. A good performance always spurs you on.

I’m able to make out the difference in my cricket since I started studying engineering. I can’t explain how or why, but once I’ve started to do engineering my cricket has gone up by leaps and bounds.

I am a very sensitive person, especially when it comes to heart-to-heart conversations. I am straightforward and I expect the same from people.

To be very modest about what is happening in my life and my career over the last couple of years, I did not know if I would go on to play Test cricket when we were in the pandemic, in the lockdown.

It is possible to get a degree in Engineering by merely passing the exams and not really learning the concepts in depth, and also get a job based on that degree. Similarly, a cricketer can waste the opportunities in the nets and in training, and with some talent still play professional cricket.

At one stage, I just wanted to play one Test for India. People used to say I was just a T20 bowler, a limited-overs bowler. All these tag lines were doing the rounds but I did want to make a difference.

I used to bowl a lot of seam-up for Tamil Nadu and then my pelvic disc slipped. Then I just started batting, I didn’t want to bowl at all. I wanted to do nothing with bowling.

Adaptability is one of the biggest strengths that I have. To make decisions on the field, try and convince my captain to change fields, try and make him give that extra couple of overs.

I won’t say if nerd is the right term, but I’m a big, big cricket fanatic. I just cannot stop thinking, talking cricket. I do carry notebooks and make notes to look at improving and developing my own game.

If I feel like I am being thrown under the bus, how am I supposed to get up and come for a party to enjoy the team’s or team-mate’s success?

I felt only mad people succeed in life and if you’re mad about something and believe in something, you will come out on top.

What mistake all of us make when we are talking about a particular cricketer is that we say they are trying too much, the control is not there, there is no patience. These are cliched terms.

Spinners are increasingly starting to bowl short, which means they are taking the straight boundaries away. When you play Test match cricket, you can’t bowl short.

When I was playing Under-14s I had a bit of a problem with a pelvic slip disc. That left me bed-ridden for about six weeks.

I think initially people never gave spinners a chance. They thought spinners will just be hammered all over the park.

Especially with athletic pubalgia and the patellar tendonitis – I used to bowl six balls and then I used to be gasping for breath. And there would be pain all over the place.

I started the game, in the nets, I used to be a little sceptical. When I bowled, the balance of the ball was a lot different to the red ball.

So whenever Marnus Labuschagne steps out, he hits the ball over cow corner for an offspinner, or he hits it over mid-off. It’s very rare through long-on. And he doesn’t have a flat sweep, he has a lap sweep, like a paddle.

I am thrilled to be a part of the Delhi Capitals. A new team always brings up different challenges.

I have to thank batting coach Sanjay Bangar for providing valuable inputs. He gave me honest feedback about how poorly I was batting and what were the aspects I needed to focus on.

Sometimes when you listen to me on the field, or when you listen to me on the morning of the game, you’d think I am an idiot. I can completely empathise with those who might think so.

As a spinner, you need to be very precise in Australia. Every run you give must be on your own terms.

I don’t know if I would have made a better engineer than a cricketer. I definitely think I am a much better cricketer.

When you’re in form you’re happy and want to go out there and play everyday. It’s like that with studying. Once you learn something and develop your thinking, you want to study more.

Since I started playing, I always wanted to pose a threat to the batsmen, so I always kept evolving.

For me to able to deliver on a consistent basis abroad there are a lot of factors beyond just me that need to go into it.

Giving a point to a team that has not conceded an outright win is not that great an idea. When an outright result cannot be reached, the points should be shared between the two teams.

As far as I’m concerned, I bowl at other team batsmen not at Indian batters.

The bowler wants to win the game. The batsman needs to bat well to get runs. No question about it.

Once cricket is seen as a possible profession, a youngster’s life can be so altered that cricket becomes second nature to him.