Veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is widely regarded as one of the shrewd minds in the game. He is quite outspoken in nature and never shies away from sharing his insights on controversial topics related to cricket.

In an exclusive chat with The Indian Express, Ashwin recently shared his two cents on the current team culture in cricket.

According to the ace off-spinner, the teammates used to be friends once upon a time but times have changed and they are now just colleagues.

“It is a deep topic. This is an era where everybody is a colleague. Once upon a time when cricket was played, all your teammates were friends. Now, they’re colleagues. There’s a big difference because here people are there to advance themselves and to stride ahead of another person sitting to your right or left. So nobody’s got the time to say, ‘okay, boss what are you upto’?" Ashwin stated.

“In fact, I believe cricket gets better when you share it. It gets better when you when you understand another person’s technique and another person’s journey. But it doesn’t happen anywhere close to how much it must happen. Nobody will come for your help. It’s an isolated journey," he added.

However, Ashwin said the doors to take advice from a professional are always open.

“Of course, you can reach any professional you want to, tap into some coach, you can pay and go, practice, try to feed of them and all that. But sometimes we forget that cricket is a very self-taught sport," he remarked.

It is pertinent to mention here that Ashwin, who occupies the numero uno spot in the ICC Test bowling rankings, was left out of India’s playing XI for the WTC final against Australia at The Oval last week.

Considering the overcast conditions and green-tinged pitch, India fielded four pacers and a spinner in Ravindra Jadeja.

The decision to drop Ashwin sparked an outrage in the cricket fraternity and the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar also criticized the move.