"I got angry": Ashwin reveals why he avoided Sanjay Manjrekar

The renowned commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar, has been criticized several times for his comments against the cricketers, and one of his comments irked the former spinner of the blue brigade, Ravichandran Ashwin, so much that he stopped speaking to the star player for several years.

Ashwin retired from international cricket for India in December 2024 as he was a massive part of India’s rise in the longest format as they built a fortress at home. He took 537 wickets from 106 Tests at an average of 24, while in 116 ODIs, he collected 156 wickets.

Ashwin opens up on the Manjrekar article that triggered years of silence

Ashwin revealed that after returning from his first trip to Australia, he came across an article by Manjrekar, in which the former batter criticized the fitness of the off-spinner. The Chennai-born used it as motivation and turned the criticism into a fire to turn his career around.

“I had messaged Sanjay Manjrekar once. After my first Australia tour, he had written a long article, and I read it completely while returning. After reading it, I got angry; getting angry is one thing, but I felt very bad. I let it go. I used to not talk a lot to him either.” Ashwin expressed on JioHotstar.

“The next four years, I worked a lot, as I was not a gifted athlete. Then in 2015, he wrote another article saying he was bowling very well. Then I asked for his number and messaged him that your article back then changed my life. I always look at whether there is something to learn from criticism.” He added.

Along with his bowling skills, Ashwin smashed 3503 runs in his Test career, celebrating six centuries and 14 half-centuries.

Ashwin's next assignment: Captaining Dublin Guardians in the inaugural ETPL after MLC knee injury

While Ashwin has retired from international cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL), he continues to fly around the world for other T20 tournaments. Ashwin played just one game of the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2026 and was smashed for 24 runs without any success in the two overs before getting ruled out of the event with injury.

Ashwin has joined the likes of Faf du Plessis and Tim David as a direct signing for the very first season of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL). He will double up the captaincy and mentorship role for the Dubai Guardians.

“If cricket as a game is pretty serious about making it a global affair, I think the teams in this league will play a very crucial part in enabling that. So as far as I'm concerned, this is a really, really exciting prospect where we not only believe that we can pick a team and do well in this tournament.” The Indian star revealed his plan to be part of the ETPL 2026.