Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said that legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni knows exactly what needs to be said to get the best out of his players as well. Ashwin started his IPL career under MS Dhoni’s captaincy at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He is always keen to adapt and add more variations to his game. He recalled how Dhoni had always given him just one piece of advice whenever he
has approached for feedback as well.
Ravichandran Ashwin told Revsportz about MS Dhoni: “I met him in Dubai after a game between Delhi against CSK and I asked him, ‘how you find it’. I have developed that back spin. He said, ‘you are always like that. It has been your strength. Remember, you continue to be funky. Remember, you continue to work on your variations’. I was like, this was what he told me 15 years ago.”
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“The man continued to see the same thing. And then like after a brief pause, he told me again, ‘you know what, I know what you are thinking but that is your strength. So, keep being funky, keep expressing yourself,'” he further added.
However, Ravichandran Ashwin shared that it is not just the cricketing side but also the mental aspect of things that MS Dhoni sees as well as knowing what needs to be said to give the player more confidence as well.
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“I think he said, ‘I want that guy back’. I came back and he again used me with the new ball because he used me inside the Powerplay against Adam Gilchrist and I got him out in Chennai. And he used me again in those same roles and continuously used me like that for several years to follow. He used me inside the batting Powerplay, even when I played for India. So, I think that is quite a fascinating sort of a belief that he had and he kept it very simple when he told me things,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.