Ashwin Opens Up on Harbhajan Singh’s Influence on His Early Days

In an interview, Ravichandran Ashwin described how Harbhajan Singh, the legendary off-spinner, affected his early cricket thinking. The interaction occurred during a special program examining how banter and sledging have evolved in Indian cricket.

During his debut Under-19 cricket match under Dinesh Karthik’s captaincy, he felt inspired by Harbhajan’s approach. Back then, I batted a little and didn’t bowl much. So, everytime I bowled, I used to mimic Bhajju Pa’s bowling movement because I was a huge fan. When Bhajju Pa first appeared on the scene,

I used to mimic his actions while playing gully cricket every day. On JioHotstar’s ‘Cheeky Singles’, Ashwin reflected on his dismissal of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden while bowling from above the stumps during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, he never expected to become an off-spinner.

In my mind, it was always batting. But there was something about him, his personality, and his capacity to stand up to everyone and fight for what he believed in. So I truly enjoyed that generation. I was a genuine fan of him, and I never believed I’d get this far,” he said.

Ashwin’s interpretation of Anderson’s comment after Kohli’s 200.

Ashwin also recalled an incident involving James Anderson, an English fast bowler, during an Indian Test series. After Virat Kohli’s double century in Mumbai, when India’s first-innings total reached 631, Anderson said something. Ashwin expressed disappointment at Anderson’s remark, believing it lacked sportsmanship.

“Jimmy Anderson is a fantastic bowler who has performed admirably throughout his career! They batted first and scored around 450 in the first innings in Mumbai.

Following that, we were 330 for six until Virat hit a beautiful double century. “He took control and helped us overhaul their score, and we got to 630-odd,” Ashwin said. “We were about to inflict an innings defeat on them, but Anderson came for the press conference and said, ‘This is India, let him come to England.'”

‘ Man, how difficult is it for you to give someone credit? So I thought it was below the line. “We respect him, but he should not have said that,” he continued.

Harbhajan Singh joined in the chat and shared his thoughts on how the Indian Premier League has changed the nature of cricket on-field banter. He acknowledged that sledging has decreased since the IPL, but emphasised the importance of maintaining some competitiveness.

However, the IPL brought everyone closer together since you share a dressing room with those players, meet them on a regular basis, play alongside them, and sit and chat together. But I believe that in sports, a little bit of banter and interchange should be allowed, as long as it does not pass the line’, Harbhajan stated.