Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who used to play cricket for India, mentioned that Chris Gayle could easily smack any bowler all over the field. But R. Ashwin only needed four balls to get him out. Srikkanth joked that Gayle was actually scared of the Indian spinner.
Srikkanth said Gayle felt the pressure whenever Ashwin was about to bowl.
At a book thing in Chennai, Srikkanth said that Gayle’s tough attitude changed when he had to deal with Ashwin.
Chris Gayle could hit anybody for sixes and fours but Ashwin just needed four balls to dismiss him. When Ashwin had the ball, Gayle’s legs started shaking, said Srikkanth.
Ashwin has a great record against Gayle, dismissing him five times in the Indian Premier League.
Gayle has only scored 53 runs off the 64 balls he’s faced from Ashwin in the Indian Premier League, with a strike rate of 82.8.
Srikkanth praised the former India captain, MS Dhoni, for noticing Ashwin’s talent and turning him into this bowler that did well in all forms of the game.
Dhoni was the one who saw him as a great T20 bowler. Ashwin has gone from T20 to ODIs to Test matches amazingly. He’s not just a good bowler but also a great batter,” Srikkanth said.
Ashwin was bought for a big amount in the IPL 2025 auction. Srikkanth said it was good to have him back home with the Chennai Super Kings before IPL 2025.
Chennai CEO Kasi Viswanathan said, When we first met Ashwin, he was playing for Tamil Nadu in the early 2000s (he played his first big match in 2006). I was helping to run TNCA at the time. We became good friends during the 2009 IPL in South Africa.
Ashwin started his Indian Premier League career with Chennai in the first tournament in 2008 and became well-known in the 2010 season.
Ashwin has had a long and good Indian Premier League career and will be playing with his old teammate Ravindra Jadeja for Chennai in the next season.
