Sans any ambition, ageless Ravichandran Ashwin wants to carry on as long as he can

CHENNAI: R Ashwin is in a happy space. On Sunday at his home ground, he equalled one of his heroes Shane Warne on the five-wicket haul count in Tests. Ashwin's 37th five-wicket haul was one of the many records that he has achieved in an international career of 13 years, and there's one still that he had said earlier that he wanted to break.

That's Anil Kumble's record of 619 Test wickets --the highest by an Indian. But Ashwin, who is at the back-end of his career insists that he isn't exactly chasing anything.

"Look, I don't think of any goals. I just wanted to enjoy my game, be the best that I can be, seek excellence. I am not ambitious at this point of time. I love my game and want to play as long as I can," the champion offie said after a match-winning effort with the bat and the ball over the last four days.

Ashwin isn't getting any younger - at 38, the body has to deal with a lot as he looks to go from one peak to the other. "Yes, it's a challenge. It's not the same when you are 25 …Every bit of work that you put in, you have to put doubly hard to earn the right to be there," Ashwin said.

He explained how he has changed his training regime so that he doesn't stress himself out, especially when there's a dodgy knee to deal with as well. "To be fair, I have reduced my strength training sessions. I work differently on my mobility and other aspects of life. I am living life, do a bit of yoga," he said, the smile intact.

There's another growing interest in Ashwin's life --chess. The offspinner is a fan of Magnus Carlsen, he himself plays the sport and now owns a team in the Global Chess League as well. As Ashwin went on with his exploits at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai boys D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa took India towards a gold in Chess Olympiad.

While Ashwin is following them with a lot of intent, the allrounder felt this success has a lot to do with what Viswanathan Anand did for Indian chess. "Without any history of chess coming out of this country, we produced a legend like Anand, which is something fantastic. This morning also, I saw Hikaru Nakamura tweet about it. It is just amazing, I think he is someone who is under-praised a lot, he hasn't got his due," Ashwin said.

It was at the MA Chidambaram Stadium 11 years ago against Australia that Ashwin had cemented his place in the Indian Test team with a seven-wicket haul. With his six-fer and the century against Bangladesh and his family, friends and coaches at the ground, it seemed life had come to a full circle for him. Test cricket will probably return to Chennai after three years and he will be 41 by then.

Will he get to see him again playing in India's whites at his home ground again?

"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? Like I said, every day, every Test match I am playing is a big grind. And you never really know what is next when it comes to Test matches…I haven't thought too far ahead, but if that was my swansong, what a swansong," Ashwin left it at that, still smiling.


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