Former Team India spinner and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) veteran Ravichandran Ashwin was honoured with the prestigious Padma Shri award from President Draupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on April 28. Ashwin served Team India from 2010 to 2024 and during that period, he scalped 765 wickets in 379 innings of 287 international matches across all formats. In December 2024, he hung his boots from international cricket during India’s tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. The veteran retired as the second-most successful Test bowler for India, claiming 537 wickets in 200 innings of 106 games.
R. Ashwin now became the 40th cricketer to become the recipient of the distinguished honour, joining the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Viral Kohli. The 38-year-old received the award from President Draupadi Murmu in the presence of honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was accompanied by other dignitaries. Along with Ashwin, India’s hockey player R Sreejesh was also conferred with the illustrious award.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s ineffective bowling display in IPL 2025
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Ashwin has looked out of rhythm with the ball. His responsibility is to spearhead CSK’s spin-bowling attack with Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad but he has failed to do so, thus far. In the IPL 2025 auction held in Jeddah in November 2024, he was picked up for INR 9.75 crore.
Returning to the CSK camp after 10 years, he has scalped only five wickets in seven matches at an expensive economy of 9.29. Chennai are currently at the bottom of the points table with only two wins and seven losses in nine matches. With five matches left in the competition, CSK will expect Ashwin to produce some quality performances so that the Yellow Army can do something miraculous to qualify for the playoffs.
