Being a free-thinking cricketer and someone who doesn't hold back from expressing his views, Ravichandran Ashwin says he is comfortable in his own skin and doesn't mind being called "arrogant" by those who build their perceptions regarding him from the outside.
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"People might think that I am arrogant because sometimes it's not their way of life. I am too straight. A lot of people, in the last 10-11 years, have given me the feedback saying that you should try and be a little diplomatic because straight trees are cut first," Ashwin told sports broadcaster Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan on 'The RK Show'.
"But I chose to tread a path that I am comfortable with. When there is a question posed to me, I answer that question. I don't see what answer will fit the brand value."
"If people don’t agree with me they can call me rebellious but that’s just the way people think. I am completely okay with it. If you don’t have rebellious people out there, if you don’t have people who think for themselves, it’s going to be very hard to put history out there," added the premier India off-spinner, who has played 71 Tests for 365 wickets at 25.4.
"For me, when I communicate something it’s genuinely heartfelt. It’s not with a perception of trying to win brownie points. I have been very earnest and I stand for who I am."
Ashwin also talked about his Instagram live show 'Reminisce with Ash', where he got famous personalities from cricket and even non-cricket fields to chat with him and communicate with fans through the medium amid the ongoing lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
"When I first started talking on social media, I was talking a lot about the Covid-19 breakout, trying to spread across messages. But somewhere down the line, I felt it was spreading a lot of negativity," he said.
"I felt that I need to interact with fans in a way that they will probably forget about the existing situation and enjoy some of the things that I am good at. If I get to do that, I will also have an avenue through which I can communicate certain things and hopefully, that will resonate with the audience a lot more."
"When I speak for two to three minutes in press conferences and interviews, people don’t quite get to know me. There is probably a misconception about who exactly I am. I love my humour, I take life very easy contrary to what people believe. It’s an effort to try and show them that I am not probably what you see on screen," Ashwin concluded.
(Inputs from CricketNext)
