NEW DELHI: "I am going home," Ravichandran Ashwin says with a smile ahead of Rajasthan Royals' Qualifier 2 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Friday.
Ashwin hails from Chennai and Chepauk is his home ground where he has achieved everything as a cricketer, including a match-winning spell of 3-16 against RCB in the 2011 IPL final for CSK.
Now playing for the Royals, the star spinner holds the key against the mighty batting prowess of SRH.
The Royals shared on X what playing at Chepauk means for Ashwin.
The offie says, "Chennai is a very special place. For anybody, there home is a special place and that's one place where I have always done very well. I had a few interesting batting stints in Chennai when I played the last time. So I'm looking forward to it. There's nothing like playing in front of that crowd and I'm sure we'll get Hall Bol and Nall Bol support."
In 14 games, Ashwin has taken 9 wickets at an economy rate of 8.31, but he was playing with an abdomen injury, which was stopping him from giving his best in the first few games.
Ashwin continues, "So it's going to be a very interesting game. Can we bring our A-game? Can we be tactically very superior to them? Those are the questions we need to answer."
On Wednesday, against a top class RCB batting line-up high on confidence, Ashwin brought all his variations - the slower off-break, the faster off-break and the drifter - into play to stifle Virat Kohli & Co. at a crucial juncture.
As the IPL is progressing, the pitches have become a little rough which means that the spinners can get just a little more purchase out of the tracks, and who better than Ashwin to make the most of it.
