India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who generally leaves batsmen fuming at their own inability to read his spin and guile, was himself left fuming after a prolonged power cut at his native place in West Mambalam, Chennai on Friday, September 9. The cricketer, through a series of tweets, complained to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) about the lack of a transformer in his locality, something that he believes to be the status quo for ‘10 years.’
“Dear TNEB can u help me with my Electricity at home.I pay my taxes properly and promptly.For more than 10 years we don't have a transformer,” the 29-year-old tweeted.
“The entire street hasn't had a transformer for more than 10 years.Anyone out there who can help?”
Not the first incident of Ashwin being unhappy
This is the second incident of the Indian cricketer being dissatisfied with the state of proceedings in the past 24 hours. On Thursday, during a Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) game between the Dindigul Dragons and Chepauk Super Gillies, Ashwin had a heated altercation with the Super Gillies spinner R Sai Kishore after the latter got involved in a physical spat with another Dragons batsman, R Jagadeeshan.
Eventually, the umpires and the fellow Super Gillies players got involved and sorted things out in the middle, but for the moment it was on, Ashwin was absolutely infuriated by Kishore’s conduct on the field, who got too aggressive after dismissing Jagadeeshan, and pushed the batsman while the latter was walking off, after a heated verbal exchange.
Later, during the post-match press conference, Ashwin, when asked about the incident, tried to brush it aside as something that emanated as a result of the heat of the moment.
“They are all young kids and it all happened in the heat of the moment. Also, Kishore bowled very well to take the wicket of Jagadeesan. At that stage, anybody would get pumped up and that’s what happened. Both the captains did very well to diffuse the situation, and it is not called for, but then we need to give them a bit of levy,” he said.
While the conditions around his locality do speak of apathy on the part of the TNEB, now that a star cricketer has brought the issue to the fore, immediate action is likely to be taken to address the issue at the earliest.
Ashwin must also be applauded for his efforts targetted at bringing relief, not just to his own family members, but also to the community in West Mambalam at large.
