Dubai teenager gets opportunity to train with Ravichandran Ashwin

Ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been on a roll in the recent times. He has been a key to India’s immense success at home over the past year or so in the longest format of the game. Most recently, he tormented the Australian batting line up in the second Test at Bengaluru. He has all the tricks of the master up his sleeve and no wonder why he proudly sits at the top of ICC Test bowlers rankings. Imagine how good it would be to pick up the brains of the master during a practice session.

Dubai based 14-year old cricketer Sanjay Ramakrishnan was one such lucky kid who had this privilege of sharing the practice session with Ravichandran Ashwin. The young kid was invited for a training camp that was held at Ashwin’s Gen-Next Academy in Chennai prior to the commencement of the India v Australia Test series.

He was invited for the reason that he had managed to impress Ashwin when the latter had been to the UAE last year. During the two week long camp, Ramakrishnan had the opportunity to interact with Ashwin and also practice with him. He is currently on a cricket scholarship at Kings’ Al Barsha School in Dubai.

Speaking about his experience, he quoted, “It was a real enlightening experience for me to spend two weeks at Gen Next Academy in Chennai. But to spend quality time with Ashwin was something of a privilege for me and it was good to hear new tricks of trade from him.”

He also noted that the main challenge for him was to translate his pace bowling action to spin bowling one. Also, he worked on his line and lengths. He called it to be a lifetime opportunity and hopes to be back at the academy soon.

“I was working on my transition from pacer to an off-spinner a lot and I feel I have got all basics right which is a key accomplishment. I also worked hard on bowling the ball in the right areas and thought about strategies. Overall, it was a lifetime opportunity working with Ashwin and I will cherish this camp for the rest of my life,” he quoted as per the quotes in Sport360.com.

“Yes, definitely there are plans to go back there at periodic intervals. In any sport, learning is always a continous exercise and I could see that clearly with their coaching philosophy,” he added further.