Ravichandran Ashwin, IPL
BCCI

India’s talisman spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the captaincy reins for the first time in the previous season of the Indian Premier League. Ashwin led Kings XI Punjab with all the aplomb especially in the first half of the league. Ashwin talked about leading from the front and his overall experience. The talisman spinner accepted the fact his team wasn’t up to the mark in the second phase of the tournament.

In fact, at one stage it was all hunky dory for the Punjab franchise. However, they could not qualify for the playoffs as they veered off the track. Nevertheless, Ashwin believes it was a good season for them overall.

Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin (photo by Steve Feeney/Action Plus via Getty Images)

Ashwin talked about the leadership role in the IPL. The off-spinner said it is crucial to creating a right environment for the team to blossom. Thus, it is important to give freedom to players especially in a format like T20 to play their natural game and express themselves in the middle.

“For me, it was about leadership — expressing myself and trying to take guard of the entire team. Trying to be a responsible leader, try and make sure that you are giving your players the best possible environment on and off the field, to go out there and perform. A lot of people will say we didn’t qualify, we didn’t get through to the playoffs, we were pretty bad in the second half, that the (week-long) break after our first seven matches didn’t really help us. But I think personally, for a team that has just got together, a newly assembled team, we had a good year. That’s my opinion,” Ashwin said while talking to Cricket Next.

Meanwhile, Ashwin also talked about Mujeeb Ur Rahman. In fact, Ashwin revealed that he learned how to bowl an under-cutter from Rahman. Rahman had a fine season for the Kings XI Punjab.

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Ravichandran Ashwin, IPL
Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ravichandran Ashwin. Credits: IPL/BCCI

“Most of the balls that he bowls – the carrom ball is something that I bowl. But I have developed the slider in the white-ball format. Obviously, I have not played a lot of white-ball cricket but people who have followed my TNPL, they know I have started bowling the leg-break, I have started bowling the slow carrom ball. And an under-cutter, which I learned from Mujeeb. The reverse under-cutter which works really well In a T20 game, that’s something which I learnt from Mujeeb”.

Ravichandran Ashwin has been out of favor from the ODI side. However, he is still going strong in the red ball version of the game. Ashwin will be seen in action in the forthcoming series against the Windies. The first Test match will take place from 4th October at Rajkot.

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