Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been selected as the captain of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) for IPL 2018. While it will be his first time to lead a team on the big stage, Ashwin said that it is all about incorporating which he has learnt.
Ravichandran Ashwin has the experience to lead Tamil Nadu in the various domestic tournaments, but this is the bigger stage for him.
Talking about his captaincy strategy, Ashwin said during the KXIP’s jersey launch, “For me, it is all about incorporating whatever I have learnt over the years. I have played under lot of captains including Viru paaji. My focus is on being strategically ahead of other captains.”
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In the KXIP squad, Ashwin will get support from Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag who were his captains in his different career stages. In the KXIP squad, Sehwag has a role of Head of cricket operations and strategy while Yuvraj is one of the important and experienced cricketers in the squad.
Ashwin also spoke out about that as he said, “Both Yuvi and Viru paaji have been my captains at different stages of my career. I played under Yuvi paaji in my first Challenger Trophy and he has played a big role in whoever I am today. Learning from experiences and taking advice is something I am never be averse to.”
The 31-years old off-spinner believes that the captaincy means a lot of responsibility. He quoted, “You associate captaincy with pressure and power but for me leadership comes with a lot of responsibility. If you can use it as fulcrum that helps your team, I think we will be in good stead.”
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Ashwin doesn’t believe that KXIP will face huge problem due to not having any specialist wicket-keeper in their squad. He commented, “Lots of teams have weaknesses and every team will try and overcome that. Most people see this (lack of specialist wicket-keeper) as a weakness for KXIP. On an average, in T20 games, every keeper gathers only six balls. So if our keeper can take those six balls, we will be fine.”
The KXIP skipper was also asked whether he is targeting the IPL as his comeback way in the Indian limited-overs squad, he answered “no”.
