I believe life is a circle: Ashwin says he wanted to prove a point to himself in this T20 World Cup

Ravichandran Ashwin, who played a crucial role in India restricting Afghanistan to only 144 in defence of India’s 210 and boosting the team‘s net run rate, feels that life is a circle and although he has not yet fully come around, getting a chance in the T20 World Cup 2021 was a big boost to his confidence in his approach of reinventing his bowling. 

"I had special dreams getting into the World Cup, wanting to do special things for the team and after a point in time, trying to prove a point, whether right or wrong, not to anybody else but to yourself,” he said in a pre-match press conference before India’s clash against Scotland in Dubai. 

"I believe life is a circle, for some people, it's a small one, for some it's large. It's definitely not in our hands. For me, understanding patterns in my life and career is something I've done very well over the last couple of years,” Ashwin said dwelling upon the philosophical aspect of his life. 

“Whenever I've had a very good stretch of form, I've had deep trenches, some very long periods of lull which I don't want to read too much into. That's a pattern I've embraced,” added the 35-year-old. 

Hustling and staying humble are the two things that are critical to a person’s success, be it in life or in sports and Ashwin agreed to it. He also cited the examples of two greats Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar on how to remain humble at high and work hard at lows.

"Staying humble through good periods of success is a statement lot of people make, but I've firmly embraced it and lived it. Shane Warne once said you experience success 33% of the time in your career. Sachin [Tendulkar] has also echoed that at some stage, so who am I, I am no different.

"The easiest way to cope with it, to go through a professional circle like that is to keep preparing keep working hard, expecting an opportunity to turn up at your doorstep one day and when it happens you have all the options to break open doors, latches and locks. That's what life is all about, so live for those days and keep preparing as that day will come,” he said. 

The Tamil Nadu born also dwelled upon the importance of not losing hope no matter what, saying that the fruits of hope and perseverance might not bore easily, but eventually it will. 

"It's easy to lose hope and motivation, come to those doors, hide behind them and keep complaining. That's something I will definitely not do because for me it's not about what the game has given me. It's about what I've given to the game and how much I enjoy playing the game. For me, if you put three stumps anywhere and ask me to play the game at this stage of my life, I'd do it most times,” he said.