Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has played an instrumental role in Team India’s dominance over the years, especially in Test cricket.
In 100 Tests, Ashwin has claimed 516 wickets so far at an average of 23.75, including 36 five-wicket hauls. The ace off-spinner was also part of the Indian team that won the World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.
In his recent interview with PTI, Ashwin opened up on his philosophy of failing rather than playing safe whether it's life or cricket.
"I am living my life, that's it. I am not thinking about accomplishing 'A', 'B' or 'C' (targets). I am staying in the moment. I am a creative person in general, and if I feel I want to do something, I will go ahead and do it. (Whether it's) right or wrong, is something that I will assimilate later," he said.
Ashwin wasn't always this fearless. There was an insecure side to him as a child but he overcame it as time went by. He has taken criticism on the chin and has responded with plenty of wickets, refusing to let that "outside noise" affect his mind.
"I'm not insecure at all. I would rather fail in life than be absolutely safe. That's my character. I don't have the common insecurities that people have," Ashwin stated.
"Breaking away from my insecurity (as a child) gave me a great insight into how I can exploit somebody else's insecurity. And that's how I see cricket or life in general," he explained.
During the COVID crisis, Ashwin recalibrated his approach to life and realised that in the end, he had just one chance to do what he wanted.
"The time that I have is pretty limited. I do plan but for me it's about living life. I felt cricket took away a lot of my time since 2010 (his India debut) but COVID gave me a chance to take a break, and you know, assess where I was," he remarked.
"It (the COVID-forced break) has given me wings over the last four years to be able to express myself, expand my creativity zones and so on and so forth."
According to him, it all comes down to being fearless or having the ability to see the fun side of risks.
"If you go to the Casino, thinking of how much money you will make, you will pretty much end up without a rupee. But when you go with the intention of having fun and wanting to lose the money that you have, you always go back a much richer person. It was actually a big learning experience," he elaborated.
Ashwin is currently relishing the success of his book "I Have The Streets: A Kutti Cricket Story'. Talking of books, he said: "I think hurting someone is an immensely painful journey. But if tomorrow I do write about hurtful instances of mine then it's because people who are on the other side, will have hurt me. They are obviously gonna feel bad about it, because nobody intentionally hurts you."
He narrated one such incident in his book when, during his time with the Chennai Super Kings, a team official declined his request for a good IPL ticket in 2010 even though he played a key role in the team’s triumph that season.
"Look, people who give you an opportunity to learn harsh lessons in life are Gurus in my book. I didn't want to go and confront the guy. But for me it is an incident, it happened, and it fuelled the fire in me.
"I wanted to become a better person. I wanted to become a better cricketer. I am thankful for the person who did that to me, because I think in some way or the other he fuelled my desire to do well," he said.
That incident also opened his eyes in a way that he understood the world is not a fair place.
"It's not. See a lot of people come to me and say, what goes around comes around. The world is a very fair place, it's not. It can be very unfair on a lot of people. When you win, somebody else loses," he stated.
(With PTI Inputs)
