I need to understand what amount of effort and what sort of load will suit me, asserts Ravichandran Ashwin

02/03/2019

BCCI

Ravichandran Ashwin has stated that it is important for him to understand what amount of effort and what kind of load will be suitable for him. He also underlined the fact that as he is playing only one format of the game, it is crucial for him to get good game time and train really hard.

Coming back to competitive cricket for his club - MRC(A) in TNCA 1st division, Ashwin took four wickets and scored a brilliant 51 in two matches. Last year was an up and down year for the Tamil Nadu all-rounder as he managed to pick up 38 wickets in 10 tests in spite of being injured at crucial moments.

Ashwin was a changed bowler with respect to the performances in the overseas tours last year but being absent at crucial moments for the team was something that hurt the 32-year-old cricketer.

“It’s unfortunate that I sustained back-to-back injuries when I was bowling really well on overseas tours. It’s frustrating but you have to move forward. Now, I am almost back to being 100 per cent fit. I haven’t played back-to-back games for a while. So it’s crucial for me to go through the grind. Now that I am playing in only one format, it is important for me to get some game time and also train," Ashwin told TOI.

“In terms of action, I want to get the best result as much as possible. But now I want to put lesser load on my body because it’s not easy to come back from an abductor injury and abdomen tear. I need to understand what amount of effort and what sort of loading will suit me. Wrist positions are the culmination of you putting more body into the balls. So I need to know how much side-on I can go, how much of hyper-extension I can give… So I need to balance everything out. That’s why I have to train smartly if I have to play a fair amount of games and bowl a number of overs.”

Ashwin last featured in the playing XI for India in a limited-overs game back in 2017 but he is still ready to take any opportunity that comes his way. The offie has now set a goal of playing back-to-back games and manage the workload on his body.

“Injuries aren’t anything which you can hold against a particular player. I do my best in preparation. Whenever I had undergone a fitness test or Yo Yo test, I have always been at the top of the list. But in certain games, my body probably wasn’t listening to me. It probably didn’t have a voice to communicate with me. I didn’t know when to step up the gas and when to pull the gas back. The injury had come and I had to deal with it in a certain way. My ultimate goal now is to play games back to back. To an extent it is also about workload management,” the Tamil Nadu all-rounder explained.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all