"Labour class" bowling vs. "first class" batting ft. R. Ashwin

Brut India

When R. Ashwin opened up about not being in the same league of talent as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma... The 38-year-old player announced his retirement from international cricket today.  📹: Oaktree Sports

Transcript

00:00There's nothing wrong in being aggressive.

00:01I don't believe I'm an extremely talented or extremely very good cricketer or somebody who's extremely skillful.

00:08I constantly feel that nobody wants to be a bowler because it's actually labour class.

00:12Whereas batting is like first class or business class.

00:14Bowlers are going to be the one that are going to run the team.

00:17And it's you guys that will make sure whether we are stars or superstars.

00:23Would aggressive be a good adjective for you?

00:26Aggressive on field?

00:27Yeah, as a cricketer, if I walked on the road, I'd want to win.

00:30Just going there and yeah, I should win today.

00:32My team should win today.

00:33It's about competing right from that age.

00:35Competitive is a better word than aggressive.

00:36No, I mean, there's nothing wrong in being aggressive.

00:39Virat is aggressive.

00:40MSD is aggressive.

00:41Yeah.

00:41He is. He's very aggressive.

00:43Of course he is.

00:44And it's just about showing it in a different way.

00:46It's emoting.

00:46It's emoting what you are.

00:48I don't believe I'm an extremely talented or extremely very good cricketer or somebody who's extremely skillful.

00:54Like, for example, you take Virat or Rohit.

00:57They are like born natural talents with the game.

01:01I don't belong to that segment, actually.

01:03I belong to the other segment where my cricket is relied on method.

01:07So, there are two ways to it.

01:09But I think Virat applies a lot of method to his talent as well.

01:12MS is the one that actually first taught me about it saying,

01:15look, at the top of the mark, at the run-up,

01:18you should have five, six options in your hand such that you're not searching for answers.

01:23Wow.

01:23And that's a very deep, deep line that he gave me.

01:26But it's true because there have been times in the game where I'm actually under the pump.

01:32I know I need a certain answer, but I don't know how to get it.

01:35Yeah.

01:36So, I just used to write it down sometimes.

01:38So that because I had to change formats between test ODI and T20.

01:42So, getting back into the T20 mode, I needed to sometimes refer to it what I did and what I don't.

01:46Sometimes because if you go into the game, you could be found wanting and it'll take you two,

01:50three games to come back.

01:51So, do you do that?

01:52Sometimes.

01:53Sometimes.

01:53Is it like deer diary?

01:55It's not deer diary.

01:56I mean, I have a log written away somewhere in my house about why I do certain things

02:01and what are the cues for it.

02:02It's basically like what you do in school.

02:04It's aim, method, process, and result.

02:07I played 2010 IPL and CSK won the title.

02:10Became the player of the tournament in Champs League in 2010.

02:122011 again, I was the player of the tournament.

02:14And people are always very supportive of me playing white ball cricket for India.

02:20But when my selection came for red ball, a lot of people had their own reservations

02:25and opinions about whether this was the right thing to do.

02:27He is a white ball cricketer who's been thrown into the mix.

02:31But a lot of people had forgotten the fact that I had actually picked up 141st class

02:34wickets in 30-odd games.

02:35I remember Anil Kumble actually telling me this that half of Sachin's career went in

02:40trying to make people right, prove people right.

02:43And most of my career went in trying to prove people wrong.

02:46So, it was very similar.

02:48And once I embarked on this journey and started becoming the bowler that I was, I realized

02:52that I actually had to prove it to people that it's good to be a bowler.

02:57Because I constantly feel that nobody wants to be a bowler because it's actually labor

03:02class.

03:02Whereas batting is like first class or business class.

03:04So, it's more…

03:06Blue collar, white collar.

03:07Exactly.

03:08And you want to inspire people picking up the ball.

03:11You didn't have a Javagal Srinath who was one of the greatest ever becoming a superstar

03:14in India.

03:15You didn't have an Anil Kumble until he actually picked up 10 wickets and went on

03:18to get 600 wickets to get an Anil Kumble circle in Bangalore.

03:21So, unless and until you actually treat people the way they need to be treated, you're

03:25not going to inspire a generation to take up that art.

03:28And the first thing actually Virat said when he started taking over the leadership of our

03:33test team was that he said, bowlers are going to be the ones that are going to run the team.

03:38Because I think bowlers are the ones that can win games.

03:40And it's you guys that will make sure whether we are stars or superstars.

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