'Once Upon a Time When Cricket Was Played All Your Teammates Were Friends, Now...': R Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin is very vocal about his opinions regarding the game of cricket and considered one of the brightest minds in the game. The ace-spinner never shies away from giving his take on the insights of both on and off the field things in cricket.

Recently, the 36-year-old shed light on the current team culture in cricket. Ashwin suggested that there was a time when the teammates used to be friends but times have changed and they are just colleagues.

Ashwin was asked whether he talks to the players in the team to get some help regarding cricket to which the veteran spin maestro gave his honest opinion.

“It is a deep topic. This is an era where everybody is a colleague. Once upon a time when cricket was played, all your teammates were friends. Now, they’re colleagues. There’s a big difference because here people are there to advance themselves and to stride ahead of another person sitting to your right or left. So nobody’s got the time to say, ‘okay, boss what are you upto’?” Ashwin told Indian Express.

Ashwin said the cricketing journey is very isolated but admitted that it will be better if players started sharing things with each other and understands the other person’s journey.

“In fact, I believe cricket gets better when you share it. It gets better when you when you understand another person’s technique and another person’s journey. But it doesn’t happen anywhere close to how much it must happen. Nobody will come for your help. It’s an isolated journey,” he added.

However, Ashwin said to work on your game the doors to take advice from a professional are always open.

“Of course, you can reach any professional you want to, tap into some coach, you can pay and go, practice, try to feed of them and all that. But sometimes we forget that cricket is a very self-taught sport,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ashwin recently failed to make the cut for India’s XI for the World Test Championship final, the decision which was heavily criticised by many critics and fans. While the off-spinner is currently playing Tamil Nadu Premier League After returning from London.