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Ravichandran Ashwin first gained prominence in the IPL, making his debut for Chennai Super Kings in 2009 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. Despite playing only two matches in his debut season, he became a regular in the CSK XI from 2010 onwards. However, during IPL 2010, he faced a slump in form and was benched midway through the season, coinciding with Dhoni’s absence due to an injury sustained while batting against Kolkata Knight Riders.
“I have known him (Dhoni) for almost 15-16-17 years from close quarters and with him, I find what he was in 2008-09 is exactly how he operates in 2024,” Ashwin told Revsportz. “That is fascinating for me and I remember that game in 2010 where he got hit by Shane Bond on his arm, I think at Eden Gardens I got a wicket. I got Bond out in that game but he (Dhoni) got hit on his arm and he went out of the side. But I have begun the IPL reasonably well. This is supposedly going to be my first full year in the IPL, and he went out and Suresh Raina led the side.”
Ashwin noted that while Dhoni utilized him during the Powerplay overs, under Raina’s captaincy, he was typically assigned to bowl in slightly later stages of the innings.
“I think they have probably slightly different views in terms of how they handle people. I did not bowl inside the Powerplay. I bowled slightly later because Mutthiah Muralitharan and I were playing in the same team and I ended up bowling at death in Bangalore. I have not had a good time. I had let the team down on three occasions. After that, Dhoni led. But as soon as he came back to captain the side, he picked up the puzzle,” Ashwin said.
“I think he said, ‘I want that guy back’. I came back and he again used me with the new ball because he used me inside the Powerplay against Adam Gilchrist and I got him out in Chennai. And he used me again in those same roles and continuously used me like that for several years to follow. He used me inside the batting Powerplay, even when I played for India. So, I think that is quite a fascinating sort of a belief that he had and he kept it very simple when he told me things,” he added.
Ashwin later disclosed that Dhoni had told him his greatest asset was his willingness to experiment, a viewpoint that Dhoni maintained consistently.
“He (Dhoni) always said, ‘Your greatest strength is to try new things, to be funky. So, do not change that for anybody else.’ I met him in Dubai after a game between Delhi against CSK and I asked him, ‘How you find it? I have developed that back spin.’ He said, ‘You are always like that. It has been your strength. Remember, you continue to be funky. Remember, you continue to work on your variations’. I was like, this was what he told me 15 years ago,” Ashwin said.
“The man continued to see the same thing. And then like after a brief pause, he told me again, ‘you know what, I know what you are thinking but that is your strength. So, keep being funky, keep expressing yourself’. Maybe it is not just the cricket that he sees. He sees, more sort of a mental strength side of things, or the mental aptitude side of things. And I find that he did that with Tushar Deshpande also for CSK. So, he continues to do that. He continues to pick people who are good in certain roles and fitting them in,” he added.
