When R. Ashwin opened up about not being in the same league of talent as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma... The 38-year-old player announced his retirement from international cricket today.
📹: Oaktree Sports
📹: Oaktree Sports
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00:00There's nothing wrong in being aggressive.
00:01I don't believe I'm an extremely talented or extremely very good cricketer or somebody who's extremely skillful.
00:08I constantly feel that nobody wants to be a bowler because it's actually labour class.
00:12Whereas batting is like first class or business class.
00:14Bowlers are going to be the one that are going to run the team.
00:17And it's you guys that will make sure whether we are stars or superstars.
00:23Would aggressive be a good adjective for you?
00:26Aggressive on field?
00:27Yeah, as a cricketer, if I walked on the road, I'd want to win.
00:30Just going there and yeah, I should win today.
00:32My team should win today.
00:33It's about competing right from that age.
00:35Competitive is a better word than aggressive.
00:36No, I mean, there's nothing wrong in being aggressive.
00:39Virat is aggressive.
00:40MSD is aggressive.
00:41Yeah.
00:41He is. He's very aggressive.
00:43Of course he is.
00:44And it's just about showing it in a different way.
00:46It's emoting.
00:46It's emoting what you are.
00:48I don't believe I'm an extremely talented or extremely very good cricketer or somebody who's extremely skillful.
00:54Like, for example, you take Virat or Rohit.
00:57They are like born natural talents with the game.
01:01I don't belong to that segment, actually.
01:03I belong to the other segment where my cricket is relied on method.
01:07So, there are two ways to it.
01:09But I think Virat applies a lot of method to his talent as well.
01:12MS is the one that actually first taught me about it saying,
01:15look, at the top of the mark, at the run-up,
01:18you should have five, six options in your hand such that you're not searching for answers.
01:23Wow.
01:23And that's a very deep, deep line that he gave me.
01:26But it's true because there have been times in the game where I'm actually under the pump.
01:32I know I need a certain answer, but I don't know how to get it.
01:35Yeah.
01:36So, I just used to write it down sometimes.
01:38So that because I had to change formats between test ODI and T20.
01:42So, getting back into the T20 mode, I needed to sometimes refer to it what I did and what I don't.
01:46Sometimes because if you go into the game, you could be found wanting and it'll take you two,
01:50three games to come back.
01:51So, do you do that?
01:52Sometimes.
01:53Sometimes.
01:53Is it like deer diary?
01:55It's not deer diary.
01:56I mean, I have a log written away somewhere in my house about why I do certain things
02:01and what are the cues for it.
02:02It's basically like what you do in school.
02:04It's aim, method, process, and result.
02:07I played 2010 IPL and CSK won the title.
02:10Became the player of the tournament in Champs League in 2010.
02:122011 again, I was the player of the tournament.
02:14And people are always very supportive of me playing white ball cricket for India.
02:20But when my selection came for red ball, a lot of people had their own reservations
02:25and opinions about whether this was the right thing to do.
02:27He is a white ball cricketer who's been thrown into the mix.
02:31But a lot of people had forgotten the fact that I had actually picked up 141st class
02:34wickets in 30-odd games.
02:35I remember Anil Kumble actually telling me this that half of Sachin's career went in
02:40trying to make people right, prove people right.
02:43And most of my career went in trying to prove people wrong.
02:46So, it was very similar.
02:48And once I embarked on this journey and started becoming the bowler that I was, I realized
02:52that I actually had to prove it to people that it's good to be a bowler.
02:57Because I constantly feel that nobody wants to be a bowler because it's actually labor
03:02class.
03:02Whereas batting is like first class or business class.
03:04So, it's more…
03:06Blue collar, white collar.
03:07Exactly.
03:08And you want to inspire people picking up the ball.
03:11You didn't have a Javagal Srinath who was one of the greatest ever becoming a superstar
03:14in India.
03:15You didn't have an Anil Kumble until he actually picked up 10 wickets and went on
03:18to get 600 wickets to get an Anil Kumble circle in Bangalore.
03:21So, unless and until you actually treat people the way they need to be treated, you're
03:25not going to inspire a generation to take up that art.
03:28And the first thing actually Virat said when he started taking over the leadership of our
03:33test team was that he said, bowlers are going to be the ones that are going to run the team.
03:38Because I think bowlers are the ones that can win games.
03:40And it's you guys that will make sure whether we are stars or superstars.