Some of the tags that Ashwin had to carry throughout his international career were that he was an overthinker and overambitious. However, he himself might not acknowledge that and sees it differently. He recalled an incident from his early days of playing for Chennai Super Kings when the franchise also had Sri Lankan legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, and it was highly unlikely from the team combination perspective that CSK would play two off-spinners, but Ashwin, in his YouTube channel, would discuss how he loves proving people wrong.
“Had anyone said I would achieve so much at the start of my career, I would have been surprised. Yet, when you first try to make it big, the world will constantly oppose it, saying ‘He’s an overthinker, overambitious and too big to fit in the glove’. I’ve heard many such about myself. However, if I am not ambitious about my own life, who will be? ” Ashwin said.
“Even when I played for CSK, Muttiah Muralitharan was the off-spinner. When he was picked, many told me ‘There is no way two off-spinners will play’. Unfortunately, I have this problem where I wanted to prove people wrong by trying to respond, ‘I’ll make them play two off-spinners’. I see that as my confidence. I’ve even said I’ll play ahead of Muralitharan. That’s not me belittling Muralitharan. It’s just me trying to get to his level,” he added.
Ashwin on overthinker tag
On being asked at a Idea Exchange with The Indian Express if the ‘overthinker’ label has worked against him, Ashwin said: “Everybody has unique methods. A method that’s worked for me, will not work for (Ravindra) Jadeja. The cricket community likes to keep it really simple. Unless it’s completely broken, they wouldn’t try to mend it.
“But I come from a school where even before it’s broken, I want to make sure I stitch it up and don’t get to a point where it’s broken. Why is it happening? That’s the question that people fail to recognise. I am addressing something before they believe I should address it. Because their journey is different and mine is different. They might get five opportunities but I will get only two. And I made peace with the fact that I will only get two.
“It’s not like I change my action and tomorrow if I am leading a side, I would go to Jadeja and tell him that he should change his action. I’m not that dumb. In a way, people just assumed that that’s how it could be. They just thought he would not fit the bill as a leader and that’s quite an unfair assessment,” Ashwin added.
