India’s most successful off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that Indian cricket should come out of the culture of treating players as superstars 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 talking on ‘Ash ki Baat’ — his Hindi YouTube channel.
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The sport took centre-stage in India with the 1983 World Cup win and has since gone on to become almost a religion, with top cricketers treated as demi-gods by the fans. But Ashwin, who recently retired from international cricket, said that culture needs to end.
“We must normalise all these things going forward,” Ashwin 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.”
He 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,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin bid adieu to cricket during India’s tour of Australia towards the end of last year.
The off-spinner, who finished his career with 537 wickets in 106 Tests, 156 in 116 ODIs and 72 in 65 T20Is, made a sudden announcement about his retirement from all forms of cricket after the third Test in Brisbane.
The pink-ball Test in Adelaide was his last appearance for India.
