Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) were quick to pounce on the brilliant off-spinner R Ashwin in the IPL 2018 auction and made him captain of their franchise as well.

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) shelled out a significant INR 7.60 crores for the leading Indian off-spinner and they had much hopes from the new leader. But despite an amazing start to their season, KXIP tapered off in performance in the second half of IPL 2018 and couldn’t make it into the playoffs.

The story repeated itself in IPL 2019, when despite presence of big names as Ashwin, Shami, Gayle and KL Rahul, the team failed to go past the league stage and KXIP traded him to Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2020 auction.

"MS Dhoni encouraged me to try out new things on the field," says R Ashwin

Talking about his captaincy stint in KXIP, R Ashwin said that he put his heart and soul into the job. As a player, Ashwin picked up 25 wickets from 28 matches for the franchise across two seasons.

“I put my heart and soul into what I could for Kings XI. Sometimes things are not meant to be. The game is constantly led by batsman, maybe because bowlers do a lot of work and not able to take 360-degree view of the game – especially when it comes to Test format. That’s one of the reasons why batsman leads the side,” Ashwin was quoted as saying to Sportskeeda.

Ashwin understands that in a platform like the IPL, one has to perform.

“One thing I realized was that I became richer as an individual after leading for two seasons at Kings XI Punjab, it is a proper business show where you got to deliver,” Ashwin added