Used to bowl medium pace to be next Kapil Paaji: Ashwin

NT Correspondent

Humbled to have crossed the legendary Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 Test scalps, premier India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that he wanted to be a batter and used to bowl medium pace as a child to become the next “Kapil Paaji.”

Playing in his 85th match, the 35-year-old Ashwin went past the legendary Kapil’s 434 Test scalps to become India’s second most successful bowler in the longest format on Sunday.

He achieved the feat when he dismissed Charith Asalanka during Sri Lanka’s second innings in the first Test, which India won be an innings and 222 runs.

“Feeling so humbled. 28 years ago, I was cheering for Kapil Paaji along with my da when he went past Richard Hadlee’s record,” Ashwin said on his Youtube channel.

“Even in my wildest dream, I never thought of going past his tally of wickets because I always wanted to be a batsman especially when I started off as an eight-year old. “In 1994, batting was my fascination. Sachin Tendulkar was just emerging into the scene and Kapil Dev, himself was a terrific striker of the ball.”

Kapil’s 434 wickets had come from 131 matches. The legendary Anil Kumble tops the chart with 619 scalps which he claimed in 132 matches.

Ashwin is the fourth Indian bowler to take more than 400 wickets in Test cricket. He also became the ninth highest Test wicket-taker of all time, moving past New Zealand great Richard Hadlee (431) and Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath (433) as well, apart from Kapil.

“In fact, I used to bowl medium pace on my dad’s advice back then so that I can try to be the next Kapil Paaji.”

“From then to become an off-spinner and to represent India for so many years... I never thought I will play for India. “I am so grateful and so humbled on his achievement,” he said.

‘Warne brought spin as an attacking commodity’
Still in disbelief by Shane Warne’s death, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed the late Australian legend for redefining bowling and bringing spin as an attacking commodity in world cricket.

“I see Warne as a flag-bearer for carrying the spin aspect of bowling on the front in the world cricketing map. He (Shane Warne) brought spin as an attacking commodity to this cricketing world. Everyone will talk about Warne’s delivery to Mike Gatting, but my favourite is Warne’s delivery to Andrew Strauss in 2005 Ashes. He almost singlehandedly fought for Australia in that series. He was a maestro. He was an extra-ordinary human being and he lived his life to the fullest,” Ashwin said.

Rahul Dravid had shared the dressing room with Warne for three seasons at Rajasthan Royals. “It seems Rahul Bhai asked him, “How do you have such strong shoulders? What do you do? It is such a unique story. There is a sport called ‘Aussies Rules Football’. It is sport like Rugby. It seems he wanted to play the sport but was not built for it since people who play it are tall and well-built blokes,” he said.

“So, they used to bully him and it seems he broke both his legs while playing. He couldn’t walk and was on bed rest. For 3-4 weeks he walked or rather floated using his bare hands and those made his shoulders strong and there was no looking back. That’s what he has told Rahul Bhai. We all face obstacles in life, but look how Warne converted it as his success formula,” Ashwin added.