Former Indian off-spinner R Ashwin opined on social media wars that often see fans of one player abusing another player. The veteran, who recently retired from international cricket, during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, explained the toxic nature of social media with examples of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid as well.

Talking about the toxicity created by social media wars on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said [quoted by TOI]: “Fan wars on social media are becoming very toxic. I have always said, let’s discuss cricket as cricket and not like the brand value of a player. Liking one player more doesn’t mean you go on abusing others. These fan wars are a new trend. Take for example, as a cricket fan, I used to be a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. That doesn’t mean I will talk poorly of Rahul Dravid. I like Rahul Dravid too, but I liked Sachin very much. And I consider Anil bhai (Anil Kumble) as a role model. I looked up to Harbhajan Singh too.”

Ravichandran Ashwin, however, didn’t comment on the Indian senior players – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja and their future in international cricket as well.

“I have just retired. I know them for a long time. I can’t pass judgment on what Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, or Ravindra Jadeja are thinking. Every individual has their own thinking. They only know what to do and what not to do. Rohit has also said, ‘Today I am not scoring, but it doesn’t mean I won’t score tomorrow’,” said Ashwin.

“For Virat too, he scored a hundred in Perth. People should understand that it was a low-scoring series. It created some record of the lowest overs bowled in a five-match series in many years. So, it means batting was difficult. Fans want instant results after watching IPL because it comes pretty fast in T20 leagues. But that’s not the case in Test cricket,” he concluded.