'I've still placed that trophy as first in my cabinet' - R Ashwin recalls 'landmark moment' of career

While Ravichandran Ashwin has been a regular in India’s red-ball team, the last few months of 2021 saw him make a comeback in India’s white-ball set-up as well. After the offie was selected for the ICC T20I WC 2021, he was recently named in the ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against South Africa.

However, the spin wizard recently recollected the memories of his early days. While speaking on his YouTube channel, he went on to revisit his performances during the second edition of the Indian Premier League in 2009, which took place in South Africa due to the General Elections in India.

While the bowling all-rounder was playing for the Chennai Super Kings back then, he spoke about the semi-final against the Royal Challengers Bangalore which featured stalwarts like Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.

“Back in 2009, South Africa arrived for IPL as a bandwagon to India during election time. It is also the first place that I have been after getting stamped on the passport. CSK and RCB have played their knock out semi-final match in this place. I remember Rahul bhai and Anil bhai taking RCB to play with Deccan Chargers in the final,” said Ravichandran Ashwin.

I have still placed that trophy as first in my cabinet: Ravichandran Ashwin

He then revisited the now-defunct Champions League, and spoke about the season in 2010 where he won the player of the series award. Ashwin went on to call it the “landmark moment” of his career. He also threw light on the final of the tournament against the Chevrolet Warriors, and how they managed to beat them and win the title.

“After playing 2009 IPL, I remember we playing Champions League in 2010. This was the place we arrived at for the finals of the Champions League. We had played against Chevrolet Warriors and won the finals. I bagged the player of the tournament title. I’d call that as a landmark moment of my career. I have still placed that trophy as first in my cabinet. I took a wicket in the game. Davy Jacobs was in excellent form as a captain of the Warriors and has also been in the squad of Mumbai Indians. I remember his reverse sweep at that time,” he said.

Post that, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder went on to become a regular face in the Indian team, and in the years to come, established himself as an absolute legend of the game. He is currently participating in the three-match Test series against the Proteas. The Kohli-led side won the first Test by 113 runs and thus, lead the series by 1-0 as of now.