MUMBAI: A sports hernia injury at the back end of a long home season, which forced him to miss the
IPL for the first time, seems to have actually provided a much-needed break to
Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin, accompanied by his India 'T20' teammate
Suresh Raina, looked refreshed as he was presented the 'International Cricketer of the Year' award by batting legend
Sunil Gavaskar and Harsh Goenka, Chairman of RPG Enterprises at the CEAT Cricket Rating International awards function held at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) on Wednesday.
In fact, so prolific was the ace off spinner's performance in the past year, in which took 99 Test wickets, that the its telecaster is presently running a series called 'Ashwin 82' which takes you through all the 82 wickets that he's taken against New Zealand, England and Australia to help India win 10 out of their 13 Tests against them at home. "Honestly, it feels surreal right now. I had a month and half break. These wickets (in the past season) are a result of how much I've strived for excellence," he said after collecting his award.
Quizzed on how challenging it's to adapt to the frequent rule chances in One-day cricket - the upcoming
Champions Trophy in England beginning on June 1, will be the first global ODI tournament after the
ICC
decided to do away with catching fielders in the first ten overs, got rid of the batting Powerplay, allowed five fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the last ten overs of an innings, and awarded free hits for no balls in ODIs too - Ashwin gave an answer which reflected how much he's willing to adapt to the changing demands of the game.
"There's no point in going with the same set of skills time and again, unless the game changes your skill or let the game take the demand out of you. It's been going through my head and I've been working on lot of stuff based on how the game is changing," said the 30-year-old tweaker, before promising that he was all set to unleash a few new tricks next month.
"I might be able to throw something new in this tournament, hopefully. I am equipped enough to do so. The two warm-up games (vs New Zealand and then Bangladesh) will give me an indication on how well I go in the tournament. It depends on how well my variations will come to fore. So, I'm just hoping that these practice matches can be put to good use and I bring something new to the table and give something new to the team," he said in a confident tone.
Having thrived on helpful pitches during his ultra-successful 'home stretch,' the spin-bowling all-rounder is now ready to bowl on what're likely to be batsmen-friendly tracks for CT. "You've to be prepared for any challenge thrown at you, and I generally expect placid wickets. That's the way I prepare for the limited overs format," he summed up.