CANDID CHAT

No captaincy ambitions for Ashwin

by TNN and Agencies • Last updated on

"I was finding it harder to accelerate at the crease and jump. It was a challenge" - Ashwin on his injury © Getty

Apart from being a champion off-spinner, R Ashwin also speaks with refreshing candour. His on-field intensity has good company in the form of his off-field wit. It was evident when he saw the gathering which was supposed to interact with him when he stepped into the TOI Mumbai office as guest editor. "This seems like a CBI investigation," he joked, before settling down for a 90-minute chat on his injury, recuperation and his lack of captaincy ambitions.

Excerpts from an interaction...

How did the injury affect your performance? Was it affecting your follow through?

I was struggling to accelerate at the crease. If you watched the entire home season, you could see that the acceleration was getting slower and slower. I was finding it harder to accelerate at the crease and jump. It was a challenge, but through the three months, I consciously tried to drop weight. In the past, it was only about gaining strength. But I felt the body was not able to take the load so I had to pull down some weight and hence towards the end of the series I was able to accelerate but only for three or four overs. The spell I bowled in Dharamsala in the second innings was [the] one that I had to because we knew the game was on the line.

How much will you miss being part of the IPL? Will you be visiting the RPS dug out?

(Laughs). I don't think so. I don't think I will be visiting the dug out. I don't think I am missing the IPL as I am catching up with it at 8pm daily. Sometimes, by taking a bird's-eye view, I might be able to work on my own skills. There are important fixtures coming up and I am trying to make best use of this time.

How has batting at No. 6 changed things for you mentally?

I enjoy it a lot. It puts a little bit more pressure on me and when I walk into bat, I try and tell myself to pace the innings well rather than putting a price tag or number on the runs that I get. I try and play the ball on the ground for the first 20 balls as much as I can and play as close to my body as possible.

In Tests, you average 32 with the bat, in ODIs it is 16. How keen are you to improve your ODI performances?

I bat at No. 8 which is very low to maintain any sort of average because half the time you just play your shot unselfishly and get out. But I don't want to hide behind those things. I've asked Virat if he can bat me at No.3. (laughter). I'd definitely love to bat higher, but there are good enough batters who are doing the job right now. I have other plans as far as ODI cricket goes. I have a vision about where ODI cricket and T20 cricket is headed in the next four or five years and I'm trying and making myself eligible to be a dominating fear factor in the world of cricket in that format. I know where I need to get to with my batting. I might not be the most talented in terms of what the modern cricket demands are, but I would definitely not be found wanting in terms of how I attempt to do things.

Does that no ball in the World T20 semifinal still haunt you? How did you cope with it?

I don't think I had to cope with it at all. I don't know what was written. Of late, I have not got the time to go through a lot of articles that I would've read before. My attention span gets diverted. There's family, home and there's my academy. I do miss reading these articles because when criticism happens and people portray you as a villain, that fire within you tells you that I want to prove people wrong. Ever since that no ball, I don't think I have bowled another one. That's the positive. The Indian public received us well after losing that semifinal.There wasn't any individual trashing.

Have we now settled on a perfect XI when we play abroad?

We are near a perfect XI to try and win in all conditions, but as a perfectionist and someone who wants to see this team dominate world cricket, I feel we are short on a couple of resources. Definitely some of the injuries to our fast bowlers is a source of concern. I am sure there will be youngsters who will come through and we will have a decent pool of fast bowlers to pick from. It's only a matter of time before this team gells and starts to win more abroad.

You took 82 wickets in the season that went by. Which ones stand out and why?

Moeen Ali and Alastair Cook in Mohali. Both got out to very good balls and in different ways and the game broke there and England didn't get a chance to come back. The situation of the game made it more special. Williamson in Kanpur in the first innings. For the first time, I had convinced the captain I don't need a slip but a short third man as the wicket was very slow. The ball spun back and hit his leg stump. Ross Taylor in Kolkata in the second innings. I had bowled a marathon spell. It was almost coming to an end. Virat told me to stop but I told him, give me another over because I had beaten him in the previous over. Steve Smith in Dharamsala in the first innings was special too because he was batting really well. I came into the spell and kept telling myself I have got to get going quickly because I had probably 30 balls of high intensity bowling in me in which I had to get him out.

Wickets seem to come in a cluster for you. But you take time to get into the groove.

I kept beating the bat, kept hitting the batsman on the pads. Things didn't seem to go my way in the initial overs, but once I started to get going and got a hang of the speed of the wicket, things happened. I find that the Indian wickets are too slow and there's hardly any bounce. It's also a question of how my body was reacting to the number of overs I bowled. I can be in denial, but I have to accept the fact that it was happening towards the end. In Bangalore, I was bowling in very short spells, and when that wicket came, the game closed out. Through the season, I've seen that four or five overs closes out an innings. So I waited for that one break. In the past, I've got a wicket earlier, but I might have tried that bit extra and given runs away.

What kind of impact do you want to leave for the next generation?

There will probably be a time when I sit on the couch, watch TV and think about who I am. But for now, I want to add value. I want to contribute to the cricket fraternity. At times, I get affected by a lot of things that are happening around me in the society. I want to use my image to contribute to the society.

One venture I can do that through is my academy. I want to give something back through my academy. Lack of accountability has always been a problem in cricket, so I want my academy to be like a school, where there is a curriculum, a report card system, coaches, training, whatever I felt that would have fast-tracked me to become a successful cricketer. As a society and country, I feel we often lack discipline and I try to instill that sense of discipline among my trainees through my academy.

Every professional needs to switch off. You are always glued to cricket. Can that lead to early burnout?

If you take a pool of 100 players, everybody may have picked up a bat because they liked the game. About 90% pick up the bat because they like what they are doing. Another 9% like to emulate the superstars and their achievements. I always say the game is the only thing I love. If I have to leave the game tomorrow and can still continue playing club cricket in Chennai, I'd still be a very happy soul. I just love the game and that's why I am always watching. If you guys can watch the game everyday at 8pm and report on it, why can't I? (laughs)

You are somebody who reads a lot. You also like TV shows. What are your favourite shows?

I am actually watching Game of Thrones these days. I am a little late on it actually. I feel I should have watched it a long time ago. My wife kept asking me to watch it and I kept skipping it because I thought there was too much nudity in it. But once I started watching it, I felt it was one of those serials that was made just for me. My favourite characters are Cersei and Tyrion. House of Cards is another serial that I just love.

Have you watched Breaking Bad?

No, sir... haven't (laughs). Because everybody says it's very good. May be that is why I am denying it. But I will watch it one day. I have a problem of shuttling between books and serials, so I don't watch serials for a brief period of time. Then there are times when I don't touch a book. I actually feel I would have been a good archaeologist. I live in a lot of fantasy about what Mahabharata is, what Ramayana is. I generally like reading books of that genre. My favourite author from the western world is Clive Cussler. He writes amazing excavation stories. I can go through a 500 page book in about five or six days. If I am into a book, I am into a book.These things give me perspective.

Ashwin also talked about life outside cricket ©Getty

Talking of TV shows, do you think a captain should be as shrewd as Frank Underwood of House of Cards?

(Sighs). A captain should be like Robin Wright. I don't mind Frank Underwood too. I think a captain should be a very just person. If I become captain, I want to live up to what I am saying.

In India, do we value batsmen more as captains compared to bowlers?

I can understand the logic behind why bowlers are not made captains. May be they are worried that they will over-bowl themselves or under-bowl themselves. I feel, the role of a captain is extremely overrated and underrated at some times. Whenever Mike Hussey batted against me, I always feared that he would hit me over extra cover. There is no way a captain can understand this. I would much rather have another fielder inside and put another back in a T20 game for him. But to convince the captain about doing this will be hard because it's not conventional. Addressing a bowler's fear is half the captain's job and addressing the situation is the other half.

I don't see why the captain should be one person.The job load could be shared because in many teams, a lead bowler takes up that role when the side is fielding. The role of a bowler-captain is higher in a limited-overs game than in Tests.

How would you compare the captaincy styles of Dhoni and Virat?

It's a very energy consuming job and a thankless job. After five years of captaincy, one should take voluntary retirement from it (laughs). It's not just about wearing your blazer and going out for the toss. You have to do PCs, selection meetings, pick the playing XI, answer people who just missed out. I take my hat off to MS Dhoni. He did a commendable job, especially in a country where people wanted his head for a very long time. He insulated the team from a lot of pressure.

The first thing that comes to my mind when you say MS Dhoni as captain is maturity. Virat has just taken over from him and he is a completely different individual. He likes confrontation, he likes to be in the thick of things, he's extremely aggressive. Sometimes I feel that he's so aggressive that I get a little scared. I wonder whether I should remove this fielder or not (laughs). The one thing with Virat is that you will never be wondering if that fielder has been put there in an attacking position or not. He has evolved as a cricketer and as a person in the last couple of years. He's probably a generation transforming individual.

If you get the captaincy, what traits would you want to imbibe from Virat and Dhoni?

I don't want to copy anybody. I believe in accountability and communication and I will be very just in what I do. Whatever decisions I take, I'll try and reason them out and I will be open and honest. I don't know if I actually need it. At this stage of my life, I don't think I have enough energy in my kitty to actually be thinking about those things.

But you had said in an interview `I am a leader without a title'. Could you elaborate?

These things get taken out of context to a certain degree. Because `leading without a title' is actually a chapter in one of the MBA books. (chuckles) I thought `leading without a title' generally means leading my own space, putting my own fields, controlling the environment around me.

You are the fastest Indian to get to the landmark of 50, 100, 150 and 200 wickets.

I think Anil bhai is definitely very unhappy with me (laughs).

So is the pressure building for 300?

I don't know. I think to an extent 250 got to me a little bit. It's never happened before. I can't keep saying it doesn't matter to me and all that because there is this whole build up around it. When these things keep happening, I say, `it's a good chance to create history today'. And it starts catching up and it happened. I could have done it in Chennai and got to 250 wickets there. But I'm seriously not a man for trying to attain numbers.

But are you not chasing Anil Kumble's record?

I don't know (laughs). If at all I get close, I think I'll give it up and I'll finish it at that Test. And that's not just a statement. It's out of respect. I think there are a lot of similarities between our careers.

I have constantly taken criticism positively and moved forward in trying to address it. And he's also done it to a great extent.

As the chief wicket-taker, do you expect to bowl the maximum number of overs?

It's very difficult to take the ball out of my hand. But at one stage, I used to concede a lot of runs and still not want to be taken out of the attack. But now, I want to keep bowling and I do a just job in doing that because I don't monkey around too much which I have done in the past without the maturity I have today. Nowadays, I know if I can bowl that spell, why I am bowling it and why I want the ball.

How obsessed are you with your fitness?

Given that I am a very blessed athlete. (laughs)

How do you go about your fitness regime? Are you a gym guy or more of a field person?

I'm not the most blessed athlete. But I think I am a very intense and hard working person. I have come a long way from where I was and how I started. I am a very good long distance runner. In most of my long 2ks or a 5k run, I generally top the first three in the Indian team during fitness tests. That's probably one of the reasons why despite bowling long spells, when I come into bat, I still get going. Strength training is something that I've really bought into over the last couple of years. We've got a good trainer. I have really taken off in terms of power training and strength training in the last couple of years.

How are you dealing with the evolution from being a bowling all-rounder to a better batsman? You think there will come a time where even if your bowling dips, you could secure your position as an all-rounder?

I have heard that sort of an idea come from other people. I think there is some distance to go in my batting. There are a lot of areas which I'd like to work on and improve in the next few years. I don't know. Knowing myself, if my bowling dips, would I want to carry on with my batting and contribute and still hold on to my position? I've not been a survivor in my life and I think that sounds like a survivor to me and that's not me. If I can make hundreds and double hundreds at will, then maybe it will happen. But if I can just contribute and hold on to my position just to maybe tick off a couple of boxes in terms of number of matches, or number of wickets or number of runs, I don't think I'll be doing it. I'll hang my boots.

You have made Warner your bunny.

Any series that I go into, I want to really attack their best batter. And I generally come out trumps because I plan for that in detail. I go through my personal plans. The difference is, I don't know what other people see in video analysis. Very few people see a pattern play in batsmen. How they make their runs? What their release shots are? If they find a particular set of bowlers very difficult, when do they attack those bowlers? And how do they defend. How they practise over the last month or so, I go on to Cricket Australia websites, Kiwi websites, try and see what they have done, how they practise, ask net bowlers how they've practised. So that gives me a fair idea.

So what did you notice?

Their entire batting unit was very clear that they wouldn't get out LBW and play in front of their pad. Obviously the wickets also aided them. They were good, flat, fair wickets. Each time they came into a net, they batted without pads. They got the bowlers to bowl fast. They ran a couple of yards inside and bowled spin to them. So these were all indications that they were looking for fast, spinning deliveries and air speed in the ball. So at different stages I slowed it down. I changed the line, I wanted to bring him (Warner) out of his plans. If I bowled over the stumps, he had to use his pad because all his intent was not to get hit on the pads, which means he's taken the pad out of the equation, so I wanted him to use the pads.

As a spinner how do you feel about bat sizes being toned down?

I won't say it would make an impact because the bat making technology is so far ahead that these kind of changes are still in time-warp. Bat makers have taken pressing bats to another extent, so I make a quality bat and start making a difference by chipping it off with sand paper! It won't affect bat quality. I have always thought bowlers have adapted to changes better than batters. Batters have complained and bowlers have adapted.

What do you think about Ravi Shastri's statement that players are paid peanuts?

I don't know what the clauses are. I am extremely proud that the Indian cricketers have a contract because most of the other sportspersons in the country don't even have a central contract. I would love to see a Mumbai Ranji player have a contract, I would love to see a TN [Tamil Nadu] player have a contract because we are privileged to have a contract as India players. We will have to change the mindsets in our country because at some stage people feel let's feed this guy at the top and make him feel grateful to us.

I speak my mind. I become a rebel, an outcast.I don't want to take a stance but we need an overhaul in our thinking process. Is it enough? Well, my family gets enough to live, so I am happy.

© TNN

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