Ashwin joined the CSK franchise in 2008 and played till 2015.
India spinner R Ashwin has been with MS Dhoni for a very long time and he knows the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain's transition. He was part of the CSK franchise since the beginning of the IPL to 2015.
Super Kings already had a legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in the side and to break into the playing XI, it wasn't easy for Ashwin. He recalled how Dhoni used to smash every delivery of Muralitharan during practice, something he wouldn't do currently because of a changed batting style.
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Talking about his initial memories with CSK and his attempt to impress Dhoni, he said, "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 center. Queuing up to bowl to them at the center 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. Every time Murali bowled to MS, MS hit the ball long."
Ashwin admitted that Dhoni plays a lot more calculated cricket now, but he used to be a beast back then.
"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 new in that era. To hit sixes was something we weren’t taught as youngsters," Ashwin said.
The then youngster never undermined himself and always backed his bowling despite fierce competition.
"I used to think if I bowl better, I would get to play ahead of Murali. It is just the way everyone wires themselves. And it’s not that I trained myself to be wired that way, but I never saw myself inferior to anyone walking into the side. That’s how it worked," he added.