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‘Hadn’t seen anybody hit the ball that far’: Ashwin recalls time when he bowled to Dhoni in CSK nets for the first time
While the off spinner had done the hard yards at the club level in Tamil Nadu, it was his performances for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL that brought him into the limelight. Ashwin was part of the CSK team since 2008, but played a big part in the campaign for the first time in 2010.
Rvichandran Ashwin’s rise to become one of India’s finest spinners started with his association with the Indian Premier League. While the off spinner had done the hard yards at the club level in Tamil Nadu, it was his performances for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL that brought him into the limelight.
Ashwin was part of the CSK team since 2008, but played a big part in the campaign for the first time in 2010. Speaking about his initial few years at the franchise during a conversation with eminent cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, Ashwin recalled the time when he bowled to MS Dhoni for the first time in the nets.
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“I would be waiting in the queue at the MA Chidambaram stadium where there was a net behind the stadium and one where they practice right next to the match turf.
“So MS and Suresh always batted at the centre. Queuing up to bowl to them at the centre was some sort of a yardstick. We didn’t always get to do that. But when I did that for the first time, I was bowling alongside Muttiah Muralitharan,” the spin wizard recalled.
Ashwin went on to speak about how Dhoni used to play big shots at will at that time in his career.
“Every time Murali bowled to MS, MS hit the ball long. MS of today is a lot more calculated but I have seen him back then where he used to whack every single ball and every time Murali dragged the length back, MS hit it farther.
“There were at least 5-6 balls that scaled the roof of the MA Chidambaram stadium. I hadn’t seen anybody hit the ball that far and that was very very new in that era. To hit sixes was something we weren’t taught as youngsters,” Ashwin added.
He played a crucial role CSK’s title winning campaigns of 2010 and 2011.
