Still believe I can play in limited-overs format for India, opines Ravichandran Ashwin

In India, Ashwin’s appearance in the Indian whites is nothing short of enigmatic, with his figures on par to break some of the Indian cricketing records. Yet, in the limited-overs scene, the 33-year-old is not even considered to be anywhere close to being part of the setup. Since the 2017 home series against West Indies, the off-spinner has been replaced by the duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in white-ball cricket. 

Addressing the elephant in the room, the Tamil Nadu spinner opined that he still can make it to the cut in the Indian blues. 2019 IPL was one of Ashwin’s best seasons since 2014, where he picked up 16 wickets for the Chennai Super Kings. In the 2019 edition, captaining the Punjab side, the off-spinner picked up 15 wickets against his name. 

“I like to believe I can play T20s and ODIs for India. I believe in my skills. I would like to take this belief to my grave also that, ‘yes, I can play in all formats’. Last season, I did pretty well for KXIP and I feel there is a lot of white-ball cricket left in me. I am always hopeful and up for the challenge,” Ashwin told Hindustan Times. 

On the other hand, throughout his Test career away from home, Ashwin has been the target of criticism from the Indian fans. Whilst he does average above the 30s away from home, the finger spinner believes that negativity from any quarter does not affect him. He also pointed out that his career has swung too many times between the two extremes- five-wicket hauls and getting dropped. 

“One feels dejected and disappointed when dropped. But that is how sport is. This happens. Take the recent example of Stuart Broad. He was dropped from the first Test against the West Indies and ended up making a great comeback in the next game. I too have swung between those extremes. Either I take five-wicket hauls or I get dropped. I just don’t let the negativity get to me,” he added. 

However, the start was not always going to be glitzy for the off-spinner, who was compared highly with his counterpart Harbhajan Singh. Ashwin revealed that playing a lot of domestic cricket before his Indian debut reduced any sort of pressure that surrounded him with the tag of replacing Harbhajan in the Test setup. The former KXIP player also credited MS Dhoni’s confidence in him that always kept the off-spinner going throughout his Test career. 

“It is always huge to play for your country. It is an honour and a dream come true for a cricketer, a real landmark. This helped me initially and I settled in the role pretty well. I had also played a lot of domestic cricket by then. There was no pressure as such. I enjoyed playing for India when I got the chance. I never thought I was filling someone else’s shoes. I created my own space as time went by. (Captain) Dhoni also helped me gain confidence by always backing me.”