“You continue to be funky” – Ravichandran Ashwin on how MS Dhoni gave him the same advice for 15 years

India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said MS Dhoni is an expert in getting the best out of the players. Dhoni has observed Ashwin from close quarters while playing with him for India as well as the Chennai Super Kings. 

Ashwin noted how Dhoni backed him to work on his variations, 15 years ago and gave him the same advice in the recent season of IPL 2024. Ashwin is known to try new actions and has a lot of arrows in his quiver. The off-spinner is a wily customer and works a lot on his variations to bamboozle the opposition’s batters.

Ravichandran Ashwin said on RevSportz, “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.”

Dhoni advised Ashwin to keep backing his strengths to get the best out of him.

“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 added.

Meanwhile, Ashwin recalled how MS Dhoni used him in the Powerplay overs in his debut season of IPL 2010 after taking over from Suresh Raina.

“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,” the veteran spinner said in the same interaction.

Ashwin now plays for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.