The game of cricket in India is no less than a religion, where great cricketers enjoy the demi-god status and every victory is celebrated like a festival.

However, legendary spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is not a fan of this ‘superstardom’ culture. He badly wants this culture to end so that the common people are able to identify themselves with the cricketers as just sportspersons.

"It is important to normalise things in Indian cricket. We must not encourage this superstardom and super celebrities within the Indian cricket team," Ashwin said while speaking on his Hindi YouTube channel 'Ash ki Baat'.

"We must normalise all these things going forward," he continued. "We are cricketers. We are not actors or superstars. We are sportspersons, and we must be someone that the common people should resonate with and can compare themselves with."

Ashwin said performing at the top of your game on the international stage should be considered "business as usual".

"For example, if you are a Rohit Sharma or a Virat Kohli, who have achieved so much. When you hit one more century, it is not just about your achievement anymore. It should be business as usual, and our goals should be bigger than these achievements," he stated.

Ashwin announced his international retirement midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 last December.

The off-spinner represented India in 106 Tests, 116 ODIs, and 65 T20Is, picking up 765 wickets across all formats. He finished his career as the country’s second highest wicket-taker (537 scalps) in Test cricket, only behind Anil Kumble’s record tally of 619 dismissals.