Recently, the Indian veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has bared his mind on the advice he has received from former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for more than fifteen years, stating that Dhoni’s essential advice has always been to be creative in approach and ‘funky.’
This revelation by Ashwin during an interview with Revz Sports highlights how much influence Dhoni has had over Ashwin’s cricketing.
Ashwin who recently went past 500 wickets in test matches began his international career under the leadership of Dhoni. The experienced spinner shared some insight from Dhoni; revealing that it has remained unchanged over time. “He (Dhoni) would say, ‘Your biggest strength is to try new things, be funky. So don’t change that for anyone.’ I met him at Dubai after a game between Delhi and CSK and I asked him “How you find it? I have developed that back spin.” He said “You are always like that… It was your strength… Remember you keep being funky… You remember you still work on your variations. Then I thought this is what he told me 15 years ago,” shared Ashwin.
Additionally, Ashwin explained Dhoni’s unwavering motivation towards this very concept after many years.
“The man kept seeing the same thing. And then after a short pause he repeated again- “You know what, I know what you are thinking but that is your strength. So keep being funky, keep expressing yourself”, added Aswhin.
Dhoni’s mentorship extends beyond skills; instead concentrating on developing players’ mental abilities. For example, Ashwin spoke about how Deshpande benefited from such insights from Dhoni while playing with Chennai Super Kings.
“May be he does not only see the cricket there. He sees more sort of mental strength side of things or the mental aptitude side of things. And even Tushar Deshpande he did that for CSK. So, he continues to do that. He continues to pick people who have this certain strength and put them in,” said Ashwin.