"Absolutely love coming up against CSK. You want to do really well when you play against them" - Ravichandran Ashwin

Rajasthan Royals (RR) off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin spoke in length about his knock against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2022 during a recent interview.

When asked about why he was so expressive about his celebrations while batting and after the victory, Ashwin said he enjoys playing against his former franchise.

He elaborated:

"CSK is a team that I played for. And I absolutely love coming up against them. It is a team that I enjoy playing against. It is not for any other reason but the fact that you played for a team and it's going to be very natural and when you play against them, you want to do really well."

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Further, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about the importance of the two points they would have got had they won that game. He explained:

"And second of all, I think the game, what was at stake, the two points. If we got those two points, we had two bites at the cherry. And, for all the hard work that we put in, the bubble life, the kind of hard work that I had put in through the season, it would materialize much better if that game came to a good fruition."

"I wanted it" - Ravichandran Ashwin on the match-winning performance against CSK

When asked to talk through the thought process in the game against CSK, Ashwin said:

"I think the game was in balance. I wanted it. I do not know how it was. Even before going into the game, Panish was like 'you look a little abnormally quiet.' I said I think that's just fine."

He added:

"Going into the game, I felt like I wanted each and every moment and after that first over that I bowled and went for 16 runs, I felt I hadn't done much wrong. I just kept telling myself, just be in the contest, every ball...be in the contest, bring the same intensity to the game."

Ravichandran Ashwin also spoke about how he communicated with Yashasvi Jaiswal after he walked into the middle. He said:

"When I walked out to bat with Yashasvi, my thought process was very simple, get a couple of big shots, bring the scoring rate down and 'Yashasvi, we will get it done'. I felt he needed someone to communicate and take him deep."

Ashwin noted that he focussed on his strengths and further elaborated:

"Every time I hit a big shot, we lost a wicket. First Yashasvi, and then we lost Hettie (Shimron Hetmyer). I wanted to keep it really simple and I said, 'okay, I'll be here till the last ball'. All I wanted from Riyan was 10 runs in a space of 2,3 balls."

Ashwin scored 40 runs off 23 balls in that match and picked up one wicket with the ball.