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Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has come heavily on superstar culture with a video on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’. After announcing his retirement from international cricket, Ashwin has been vocal on several subjects related to Indian cricket. In his 14-year illustrious career, Ashwin played under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Taking to YouTube, he urged players to stay low key to be in touch with common folks. He also took the examples of Virat Kohli and India’s long-format captain Rohit Sharma to urge players to serve Team India efficiently.
“It is important to normalise things in Indian cricket. We must not encourage this superstardom and super celebrities within the Indian cricket team. We must normalise all these things going forward. We are cricketers. We are not actors or superstars. We are sportspersons, and we must be someone that the common people should resonate with, and can compare themselves with," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"For example, if you are a Rohit Sharma or a Virat Kohli, who have achieved so much. When you hit one more century, it is not just about your achievement anymore. It should be business as usual, and our goals should be bigger than these achievements," he continued.
Ashwin displayed concern over India’s team selection for Champions Trophy 2025
Ashwin displayed discontent over the Indian team selection for the Champions Trophy 2025, set to be held in Pakistan and Dubai. He raised a question over India carrying five spinners for the competition. However, he acknowledged the significance of all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in the squad.
"The two left-arm spinners are your best all-rounders alongside Hardik Pandya. So both Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja are going to play. Hardik will also play and Kuldeep will play. If you want Varun Chakravarthy in the team, then you will have to make a pacer sit out and use Hardik as your second pacer. Else you will have to drop a spinner to bring in a third seamer," said the 38-year-old.
Ravichandran Ashwin will be next seen in the IPL 2025, donning Chennai Super Kings (CSK) jersey after 10 years. The right-arm bowler played an instrumental role in CSK’s IPL success during 2008 to 2015. Chennai will start their IPL 2025 campaign against their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI) in Chennai on March 23.
