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Ashwin's impact for CSK questioned, 'name's irrelevant' verdict passed: ‘Years ago they showed him respect but now…’
Ravichandran Ashwin's impact for CSK questioned following the side's loss against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025.
Ravichandran Ashwin's homecoming to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is not going as planned. The veteran off-spinner was taken for 46 runs against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday in Guwahati, and former England captain Michael Vaughan believes modern-day players no longer play the reputation as they believe they can hit every ball for a four or a six in the shortest format.
Ashwin has taken three wickets in IPL 2025 at an economy rate of 9.90. However, he has looked a pale shadow of himself. In the fixture against Rajasthan Royals, Nitish Rana took a special liking to Ashwin, hitting him for boundaries for fun.
The 38-year-old retired from international cricket in December 2024 following the Brisbane Test against Australia, and fans were waiting to see what Ashwin would do in the yellow colour for CSK.
"I guess a few years ago they probably showed him a lot of respect and in team meetings they said, oh we're probably going to hit Ashwin for 24 to 28 and not give him too many wickets, we'll take that. These guys now don't even think like that. It's like, how can we damage him? How can we whack him? He's not ragging it square," Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
"They've obviously probably seen all his deliveries many, many times over so maybe they're picking it out of the hand a little bit better and if you do that you get more chance to hit the ball. I just think it's a different approach in terms of mentality. I just think if it's in their zone it's like, right okay, we don't care about that," he added.
'Name's irrelevant'
Ashwin had a respectable start to the IPL 2025 season as he returned with figures of 1/31 as CSK registered a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians. However, in the next game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Phil Salt went after Ashwin inside the powerplay and the premier spinner looked clueless for answers.
"We don't care who it is. The name's irrelevant. It's just the ball that's coming down. It's a great mentality to have. We always used to say try and face the ball, not the name. It used to be quite funny saying that to an England side facing Shane Warne," said Vaughan.
"It's quite hard to convince players that you just face the ball, but I think this modern player, they genuinely just look at the ball and think right it can be whacked, it doesn't matter what the name is," he added.
CSK bought Ashwin in the mega auction last year for INR 9.75 crore. The franchise is currently seventh in the points table after suffering back-to-back losses against RCB and Rajasthan Royals.
