Ace India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has hit out at people in the international cricket circuit who have an opinion of him as an "overthinker" of the game, saying that every person's journey is supposed to be unique.
On day four of the second Test Bangladesh at Mirpur, India were left in a spot of bother at 74/7. But Ashwin (42 not out), along with Shreyas Iyer (29 not out), stitched a gritty 71-run partnership to take the visitors over the line in a chase of 145 and secure a 2-0 series sweep.
Apart from his 42 not out, Ashwin had a match haul of six wickets and was given the player of the match award.'Overthinking' is a perception that has followed me ever since I wore the Indian jersey with pride.
I have pondered about it for a while now and believe I should have seriously considered a PR exercise to erase that word out of people's minds," he wrote in a long thread on Twitter.
Ashwin, widely considered one of the best thinkers in the modern game, further noted, "Every person's journey is special, and unique, while some journeys require them to overthink it others can afford to keep it simple.
The moment someone says I am an overthinker from the inside walls, I have always thought to myself that's the way I play my cricket and not the way I recommend others to play".
"Finally, I think deeply about the game and share my views because I believe when ideas are shared they can multiply into miraculous achievements. The fact that it may not be popular won't deter me cos my goal is not to win the war of words, it is to learn at the end of it."
Ashwin also wrote that his Twitter thread was not in response to some new articles or any criticism from his colleagues about him. "Disclaimer: I have had no problems with any colleague or anyone and this is just in response to some articles I read during transit.
I took 13 years to understand that the word would stick on to be a menace and hope some youngster reading this thread might gain a few years." In 88 Test matches since his debut in 2011, Ashwin has picked 449 wickets at an average of 24.3 and a strike rate of 52.5.
In his Test career, Ashwin has won nine Player of the Series awards, second only to Sri Lanka's legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's 11. With the bat, Ashwin has amassed 3043 runs with five centuries and 13 fifties at an average of 27.41.