NEW DELHI: India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has defended the cash-rich Indian Premier League , saying the monetary gains the tournament provides serve as a motivation and it's wrong to call it as some sort of villain.

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Ashwin played Chennai Super Kings for the first straight eight seasons before representing Rising Pune Supergiant for the following two. CSK did not retain him ahead of the IPL 2018 auction and he eventually was bought by Kings XI Punjab for a cool Rs 7.6 crore in January.

"People tend to brand IPL as some sort of a villain to Indian cricket in a lot of ways. It depends how a cricketer address IPL," Ashwin was quoted as saying by Gulf News on Thursday. "Any sort of monetary gain that IPL provides is a motivation to move ahead."

The 31-year-old offspinner said the T20 league provides cricketer a chance to improve his standard of living which in turn helps in improving confidence. "It [IPL] is a massive move by the BCCI to do a tournament like this because it definitely gives a better lifestyle for the cricketer in terms of money. I am sure nothing brings confidence more than money brings to you. Upbringing of a kid matters a lot. How much it means to him to don those Indian colours and go out there and play and excel as a cricketer plays a big role. I have always looked at excellence, try and get better and win a game. When that is the motive I think money just becomes a by-product."

Ahead of the next IPL season, which starts from April 7, Ashwin is gearing up by adding another weapon to his armoury – legspin. "I used to bowl good leg-breaks with my off-spin action when I was playing league cricket in Chennai. This is part of my plan going into the IPL. I am trying to build a bigger armoury. That is part of it and getting good game time and doing it under pressure is important," he told TOI earlier in an interview.

Since the emergence of young wristspinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav , Ashwin along with Ravindra Jadeja , has fallen out of pecking order in India's limited-overs plans.

