The rise of namma Chennai’s wonderboy

Chennai

Be it Team India or the IPL, Ravichandran Ashwin has always been M S Dhoni’s go-to man.  Having started playing cricket at the age of eight, an age at which any other Chennai boy would start playing the game; Ashwin has made it big on the international arena with his great skill, especially the ‘Carrom ball’, something he ‘invented’. Ashwin was sorely missed in the recent ODI.  During a one-on-one with DT Next, Ashwin spoke about his home town, saying, “Chennai is the city in which I have grown up and watching cricket at the Chepauk stadium was one of the most momentous influences, urging me to take up the game as a career.”  Since 1992, he has not missed a single game at the venue except for the one against South Africa last week. “You take away Chepauk’s atmosphere; Chennai is a laidback city compared to other cities across the world to which I have travelled.

However, I would like to settle down here because of the unique flavour the city has,” says the spinner. How does he stay in shape, we ask? When it comes to his fitness regimen, Ashwin, by his own admission, says that his knowledge about fitness hasn’t been all that thorough in the past. “We have a new physiotherapist and my diet and fitness regimen has got better after that. I have started believing that my body is like a temple, so it is important for me to look after it.” Owing to his busy schedule, he says he has no clue about the latest popular spots in the city that he can visit with his friends or his Ranji teammates whenever he has free time from his game. Apart from cricket, Ashwin is a tennis fan and a movie buff.  “I watch a lot of movies and 3 Idiots is my favourite movie. “When asked about online games, Ashwin says, “I am not addicted to the virtual world but just because I am a tennis fan, I occasionally hook up to the Topspin tennis game on PlayStation.”