New Delhi. Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin does not like to be defensive in life or in sports. Ashwin’s philosophy is clear that he would rather fail than adopt an overly defensive attitude. This 37-year-old player is known as one of the smartest minded cricketers in international cricket. The words of Ravichandran Ashwin, who has taken 516 wickets in Tests, are given a lot of importance in the cricket world.
Ravichandran Ashwin is currently enjoying the success of his book ‘I Have the Streets: A Kutty Cricket Story’. The book details Ashwin’s life till 2011 and gives a glimpse into his mind. Ashwin said, ‘I am living my life, that’s all. I am not thinking about achieving ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ (any goal). I like to live in the present moment. I am generally a creative person and if I feel I want to do something, I will go ahead and do it. (Whether it is) right or wrong, it is something I would like to decide later.’
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Ashwin wasn’t always this fearless though. He had a sense of insecurity as a child but as time went on, he was able to move past it. He realised that his fear was crippling him. Ashwin said that after dealing with it, he became somewhat more assertive and it helped him grow as a cricketer. It helped him a lot in his transformation from throwing carrom balls on the streets of Chennai as a child to becoming India’s premier spinner.
The player has taken the criticism seriously and has responded by taking a lot of wickets. However, he has not let the ‘outside noise’ dominate his mind. The engineer in him inspires him to take risks and be fearless of failure. He said, ‘I am not insecure at all. I would rather fail in life than be completely safe. That is my character. I do not have the usual insecurities that people have.’
Ashwin says these things with the same candor with which he ‘decodes’ complex cricket laws. It doesn’t take long for these things to go viral on social media. He said, ‘My thinking changed after leaving behind my childhood insecurity. I don’t think of taking advantage of someone else’s fear. This is how I look at cricket or life in general.’
When asked about doing many things at once, he said, ‘During the COVID-19 crisis, almost everyone was struggling with the fear of loss. That was the time when he changed his outlook towards life and realized that he has only one chance to do what he wants.
During the lockdown, Ashwin started a YouTube channel. His candid views on cricket, cricket laws and cricketers now have more than 15 lakh subscribers. According to him, it all depends on the ability to be fearless or see the fun side of risks, which was taught to him by a trip to a casino in 2009. He said, ‘If you go to a casino thinking how much money you will make, you will probably lose all your money. When you go to have fun with the thought that you are going to lose money there, you come back as a rich person and it is a great learning experience.’
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 13, 2024, 16:22 IST
