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R Ashwin wants ‘superstar culture’ in Indian cricket to not be encouraged. He called for athletes to be relatable to the common people.
Ravichandran Ashwin wants superstar culture in Indian cricket to end.
India’s spin-bowling legend Ravichandran Ashwin has spoken strongly against celebrity culture in the Indian cricket team. The 38-year-old has called for an end to treating players as demigods insisting that the cricketers are not actors or superstars but simply athletes. Advocating for a more grounded approach, Ashwin also emphasised the importance of players being relatable to the masses.
“We must normalise all these things going forward. We are not actors or superstars. We are sportspersons, and we must be someone that the common people should resonate with and can compare themselves with,” he said on his YouTube channel, Ash ki Baat.
Ashwin called time on his international career in December last year, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He ended with 765 wickets for the national team. Speaking further, he discussed how ‘superstardom’ behaviour should not be encouraged in the senior squad.
“It is important to normalise things in Indian cricket. We must not encourage this superstardom and super celebrities within the Indian cricket team,” he said.
Ashwin also claimed that achievements by star players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should be seen as routine occurrences when considering their established careers.
“If you are a Rohit Sharma or a Virat Kohli, who has achieved so much. When you hit one more century, it is not just about your achievement anymore. It should be business as usual, and our goals should be bigger than these achievements,” he added.
The former Indian cricketer also shared his doubts about India’s squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy. He believes that the squad currently has more spinners than necessary.
“Five spinners in Dubai? I don’t know. I think we are one spinner too many if not two,” he said.“
If you want Varun Chakaravarthy in the team, you will have to make a pacer sit out and use Hardik as your second pacer. Else you will have to drop a spinner to bring in a third seamer,” he added.
India will begin their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign on Thursday, February 20. The Rohit Sharma-led side will face Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium. They lost the previous edition’s final to Pakistan and will be looking to make amendments in the ongoing campaign.
