Ashwin’s competitive instinct that we all are bearing witness to, is with him right from his childhood. He wanted everyone to play the game seriously. Anyone who does not, was not welcome to the game. Ashwin goes onto describe the street cricket that he played with his friends and also his cousins. He was the youngest of them. Straight behind the bowler, were glass windows, which essentially means that hitting straight was not an option. They had to improvise and score square of the wicket. Pull became the main scoring shot. If the ball goes over the boundary and into the nearby temple or the homes, the batsman was out. If a batsman gets hit three times on the leg, he was out. They played competitive Test cricket. The games were often spilled over to the next day. It was all on the streets.
Whenever, a window was broken, the boys will run and was nowhere to be seen for fear of the neighbourhood uncles and aunties scolding. Ashwin was the likeliest culprit. Also, because his competitive streak would often want to prove a point. After the games, they all kept discussing about international games and about players. These games laid the foundation for their friendship. All of these remind me of my childhood because we did all these things too.
Watching the game from the stadium
Around that time, his mother’s company become the sponsor for the India vs Australia series in 1998. Tendulkar prepares for Warne by asking L Siva to bowl on the rough outside the leg-stump. Ashwin pesters his mother for complimentary tickets from her company. He makes plans as to how to watch the game from the stadium and what food to carry. Those days, food and water were allowed inside the stadium unlike now where everything is banned. The d-day arrived and Ashwin was off with his father to the stadium to watch the game. Needless to say that he had a good time. 10 months later, it was India vs Pakistan, a game that will forever be etched in the minds of every Indian supporter.
Ashwin’s father being an employee of railways, getting train tickets was easy. Believe me, it was and is tough to get train tickets in this nation. He alongwith his father, will go to Bangalore and Bombay to watch games. It must be said that his father was extremey supportive of him, either watching the game or playing the game. So much so that, he even build an indoor nets to help Ashwin improve his batting.
First competitive cricket
At 12, Ashwin plays his first league cricket in the Madras league for Egmore Excelsiors. In the 2nd season, he scores a hundred. His job was to score runs and run around the ground because he was young whereas the others were old. He became quite good and was more than a match in the 5th division. His father sensing something in him, enrolled him in Bharath Reddy’s coaching academy. His father also wanted Ashwin to be tested against the better bowlers. L. Balaji, the former Indian bowlers was at that academy but Bharath Reddy warned that for a 13 year old to bat against Balaji was death wish.
In the other academy, run the Shri. Dharmalingam, the man who Kapil Dev credited with teaching him how to take catches running back and over the shoulder. The most famous one being the 1983 Vivian Richards catch. Dharamalingam allows Ashwin to bat against the better bowlers. First ball, he was hit on the chest and was taken away. For 2 months, he father was next to him to ensure everything was alright.
Chance goes abegging and wrapping up it was all on the streets
At 14, his wheezing attacks stopped. He represented Madras against a combined Tamil Nadu district team in Thirunelveli, a district in Tamil Nadu, India. After that, he was picked for the Tamil Nadu U-14 team with a chance to represent the South Zone U14 team if he did well. Needless to say, he came a cropper in the 2nd game having missed the 1st one, dismissed for zero in both the innings. He was told by the team management not to bother to return for the 3rd game.
All this while he had a back injury which was diagnosed as disc slip on the hip. The doctor informed the family that it needs to be surgically removed. He also said that the bone will grow in a couple of years which must be removed by another surgery. The family’s finances were not that great. They had spent everything on Ashwin’s cricket. This news brought their world crashing down.