R Ashwin is probably one of the top spinners in Test cricket in the world now. Currently out of favor in the limited overs format, Ashwin spent his time playing in county cricket and spending time with his family.

Sportskeeda.com caught up with the ace spinner, who reminisced about his childhood love for cricket.

Ashwin recalled that his father was a cricketer himself and he admitted that he inherited the love for the game from him.

Ashwin said, “Appa was a great Cricket fanatic . Coming from a traditional South Indian family those days, it was but natural that my grandfather did not encourage my father to take up the sport seriously.”

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Ashwin recalled his childhood cricket days, “I would love to play on our house terrace and on the road outside my home. Appa would throw the ball and I would hit the ball with my bat. Come Match time both of us would remain glued to the Television. I would always remain stuck to my father and people would often call me his Kangaroo.”

Ashwin credited his mother for encouraging him to take up the game seriously.

He says, “My mother was always encouraging of my urge to take up the game more seriously. It was my mother who insisted that I joined a Cricket Coaching Institute. It was then that I joined the TSR Cricket Academy at YMCA. I remember very clearly that both my parents would come to drop me at the academy and pick me up again once the practice would get over. So that's how the journey started.”

Talking about watching cricket in his childhood, Ashwin said, “I was a single child. I was a loner and have loved it that way; even now that I am married I like to spend time on my own. I was mad about Cricket and so I would throw the ball at the walls and hit it with my bat. I would also give a commentary of the actual happenings.”

“The only heartbeat for the entire nation at that point of time was Sachin Tendulkar. I would watch Sachin play with butterflies in my stomach, praying that he should not get out,” said Ashwin.

He also recalled a funny yet painful incident from his childhood involving his father.

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Ashwin said, “We used to have rope balls at home(These are actual cricket balls hung from ceiling and then you strike them with your bat just to get the sense of timing right). I played what I thought was a rousing pull shot, and bang the ball went and hit my father on the forehead.”

“He was bleeding quite badly and I was inconsolable. We went to the Public Health Center, just across the road from my house, stitches done, both of us were off to the ground, my father to drop me and myself to play the match,” Ashwin concluded.

Ashwin also asked parents to encourage their children to play sports and be with the child to have him gain confidence to do better.

Ashwin said, “My tenacity comes from my mother, my truthfulness, honesty and straightforwardness comes from my father. Show the child the way, encourage him, provide for the best possible guidance, be his friend and support system and then watch him flower. When a child takes up a sport like cricket, take him to those training sessions and be with him, watch him play and derive happiness from just seeing him play the game.”