Ravichandran Ashwin who once remained the most celebrated Chennai Super Kings player has made his way back into the franchise not as a player but as in-charge of CSK’s high-performance centre.
The Chennai-born currently plays for Rajasthan Royals in IPL has reunited with India Cements Group to take charge of the Chennai Super Kings(CSK) high-performance center on the city outskirts.
The high-performance center which is in the outskirts of the city is expected to be fully functional before the start of the next IPL season.
With a mega auction scheduled around the end of this year, this move from the franchise created curiosity regarding the possibility of Ashwin’s reunion with the men in yellow.
CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan shared his excitement about having R Ashwin back in the community.
“We are excited to have Ashwin back. He will have a huge role to play at Superkings Ventures and our High-Performance Centre. He is one of the best cricketers from Tamil Nadu and is known for his drive towards excellence. His commitment to the game at any level, be it for India, Tamil Nadu, or even the club, is well known. He will be a great person to guide the center and nurture the young talents coming through.”
Ravichandran Ashwin who initially played for Chennai Super Kings opened his view on joining the CSK community.
“Growing the game and contributing to the cricketing fraternity is my primary focus. I feel elated to be back to where it all began for me.”
With this being a big player auction, a trade-off between CSK and Rajasthan Royals is ruled out as they won’t be able to retain him. In case, CSK are not able to acquire Ashwin at the auctions, the only other possibility is they make a trade post the player auctions.
Ravichandran Ashwin was one of the key players in CSK’s victories during the 2008 and 2015 period. Though Ashwin has played only two games combined in the 2008 and 2009 IPLs, the off-spinner became a regular in the side since the 2010 IPL.
Ashwin helped CSK in their back-to-back IPL title-winning seasons with 33 combined wickets in 28 games.
Apart from IPL, Ashwin also played a vital role in CSK’s success at the now-defunct Champions League. Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker and player of the series in their triumph in 2010 and also bagged five wickets in as many games to help CSK win their second CLT20 trophy in 2014.
