‘I’m picking up a wicket and Virat Kohli is all over the place’ - R Ashwin’s blunt answers on his ‘serious image’ among fans

Former legendary India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin announced his ‘sudden retirement’ from all forms of international cricket just a week ago on Wednesday, December 18. The 38-year-old hung his boots with an unexpected announcement after the Gabba Test in Brisbane. Meanwhile, a lot of opinions, statements and thoughts poured out from the former cricketers, experts and fans of the game.

In the same vein, the man himself, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about his ‘serious image’ among the fans. The off-spin great was in a detailed virtual conversation with the former England skippers, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.

I wanted people to know me for who I am – Ravichandran Ashwin

During this conversation, Ashwin also came up with some insights about his memoir, “I Have The Streets: A Kutty Cricket Story”. Furthermore, he also came up with a blunt response while speaking about his so-called ‘serious man’ image among the fans.

“I wanted people to know me for who I am, because a lot of times, Ashwin's picking up a wicket and Virat Kohli is all over the place. He's just jumping about and people very often tend to believe that Ashwin's the one that's serious and Virat's the one that's having all the fun, which is why somebody asked me the question, why are you serious all the time?”  said Ashwin on Sky Sports.

My answer to that in the first place is I'm never a serious person, but when somebody is clobbering me and I have the ball in my hand to win a Test Match for my country, my mind is sticking, because I'm in the process. So very often, you don't see me picking up a five-wicket haul and pushing across a kiss through the blade of my bat to my better half sitting in the dressing room or sitting in the hospitality box. So I felt like a lot of who I am got diluted in the fact of what I've become. So I wanted to bring that out in my book,” he added later.