The day I lose patience to learn something new, I will stop playing cricket: Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has admitted that he will put his foot down from the game once he feels he no longer has the zeal to learn anything new. He further said that competition brings the best out of him and it’s the desire to master the game that keeps him going forward.

Ashwin is India’s fourth-leading wicket-taker in the whites, with 409 wickets in 78 Tests to his name. While he is no longer a part of the team’s white-ball setup, he has represented the country in 111 ODIs and 46 T20Is, scalping 150 and 52 wickets respectively.

Renowned for his bag of variations and thinking brain, Ashwin has established himself as one of the most vital cogs in India’s Test setup and is currently performing his duty at the World Test Championship final.

“The beauty about Test cricket is you are always aspiring to be perfect but you can settle for excellence, so that’s pretty much I think I do,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by the ICC ahead of the ultimate clash between India and New Zealand in Southampton.

I have achieved everything because I never settled: R Ashwin

“I think whatever I have achieved so far in my career is because of that attitude, did not settle for anything, constantly looking to improve. I maintained that if I don’t like doing different things and if I lose the patience to do something new or get satisfied then I might not play the sport anymore,” he said.

Ashwin further revealed why he does believe in celebrating victories too much. “I don’t celebrate victories as much as I ideally should because for me victory is an incident and is coincidental to planning and practice. I sit and think about what can be better.”

He also revealed that he does not like to dwell too much upon his performances. “I don’t really read or dwell on my performances to be very honest. To be brutally honest I just hate the fact that I am who I am because of what I do. In India, you get a lot of adulation but I am just another normal person who finds peace and happiness playing the sport.”

It is just absolutely wonderful that I can ply my trade and feed my family and I get paid so well. This is a sport that gives meaning me to live. I am too excited about it. I don’t time for people rating me or not rating me, it’s just another person’s opinion and that’s just brutally how I live my life,” he said.