Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin says he has “found a purpose in life,” pushing the experimental boundaries without worrying much about the criticisms that may come your way if you choose unfamiliar territory. Ashwin is enjoying one of his “happiest IPL seasons”, even if his 11 wickets and 183 runs won’t exactly describe the kind of impact he’s made on the Rajasthan Royals campaign.
Ashwin, the batsman of the T20 is as much of a revelation as Ashwin, the bowler, who tricked the dangerous Andre Russell with a gem that could easily be considered one of the best deliveries of the season.
“This is a very different year for me as a cricketer and as a person. Honestly, this was easily one of the happiest years of my experience at the IPL,” Ashwin told the Rajasthan Royals social media team in an interview.
For Ashwin, this year has been all about exploring less-traveled areas, whether growing as a finisher with the bat or getting the team off to a great start as a pinch hitter. “Nothing to do with achievements and qualifications. It’s about how much I’ve enjoyed performance. The day I stop experimenting, the day I stop losing the passion for it, is the day I’m done with the game,” Ashwin, said India’s second highest wicket-taker in Tests.
“I’ve been able to take my thought processes to another level this year. How do I get this, it’s tricky? They call it freedom of expression,” said the lone “cricket scientist” on the current Indian team.
The pitch he threw from around the wicket to knock out and reap Russell’s neck in a tense game against KKR was a signal that “some things just are.” “I’m one of the lucky few people to have found the purpose of life. The happiest moment for me was Russell’s resignation from the KKR game. I honestly believed that turned the tide.
“The previous day in practice I was working on running across the wicket from different angles. The first time I did that, the match was balanced and he got out, then hat trick Yuzi happened. From that moment on I felt that things should be like that.” he said.
But the experiment could have gone wrong, but Ashwin was ready.
“I’ve tried this before and it didn’t work and people wondered. I don’t know how people would have reacted if it didn’t work, but it did.
Royals played the season with ‘no expectations’
For Ashwin, the “greatest strength of this team was playing with freedom and without expectations.” “We need to continue that and put a lot of pressure on whoever goes against us in the rest of the games ahead of us.” He thinks the team may be onto something special. “It’s a good start. The last time we qualified was when Shane Warne was around. It looks like we’re going to do something special. Looking back on the season, it took me a lot of effort.
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“We’ve had our low moments, but we’ve been pretty standard in how we’ve managed our inner space. The honeymoon with RR was really good and I hope it stays that way,” he said.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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