New Delhi: India spinner R Ashwin has called MS Dhoni as a ‘huge influence’ on his career, revealing that he badly wanted to get former India captain’s attention during his early IPL stint at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Ashwin got his first IPL contract with CSK, one of the most successful IPL sides, in 2008 and he believes that stint with team shaped his career.
”IPL and CSK is a stage that everyone wants. For me it was more about recognition. MSD did not know who Ashwin is, (Matthew) Hayden and (Muttiah) Muralithan did not know who Ashwin is. The first thing that came to my mind was that ‘I will show these people that Ashwin is here’,” Ashwin told Harsha Bhogle on ‘Cricbuzz in Conversation’. “I don’t know it was being foolish or arrogance but that was how I was made. Nobody was giving me a chance that Ashwin will play alongside Muralitharan or ahead of Muralitharan. I thought, I will get there ahead of him one day,” he added.
The off-spinner mentioned that Dhoni, who captained CSk, had huge influence on him and the only way to get his attention was by troubling him in the nets. ”I got the eye of Hayden, Jacob Oram, and Stephen Fleming while bowling to them at the nets.
They were finding it difficult to face me in the first year (2008) but I had not caught the eye of MSD,” he said. ”I never had massive interactions with him. It was going to the nets and getting MSD?he was hitting Muralitharan out of the park and I thought, if I bowl better than him, I met get to play ahead of Murali,” he added. Ashwin became Dhoni’s go-to man for wickets and Dhoni wouldn’t hesitate to throw the ball at him even for the first over.
While Dhoni didn’t think much before giving the ball to Ashwin, the off-spinner also recalled the time when his performance might have been noticed by the captain. ”He didn’t even think, gave the ball to me and went off.
Thinking of it as a captain today, for a captain to do something like that to a youngster, I think I came into MS Dhoni’s peripheral in 2009 where he played a Challenger Trophy I got him out and I celebrated like a crazy young kid. I don’t know how it went down with him. I caught him once in the tournament and dismissed him in the final,” the off-spinner said. (UNI)
