R. Ashwin's hobbies: Reading books & watching movies

Cricketer R Ashwin is the third Indian to receive the ICC Cricketer of the Year award, with Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar being previous recipients. During a telephone conversation from Chennai last week, Ashwin says Dravid called to congratulate him. "I'm in touch with Rahul quite a lot, especially over messages," he says, adding that he's not yet had a chance to celebrate his win properly. Talking about fans reactions to Ashwin apparently not properly thanking MS Dhoni in his acceptance speech, the offspinner says he prefers to not react to it at all. "We've had a great transition ever since Dhoni hung up his boots this year in Australia. A young captain has taken over, we fell on the right track, and we now have a new bunch of boys," part of his speech said, giving fodder for controversy.

Defending his speech, Ashwin says with a laugh, "We're an emotional lot of people. We need to learn to appreciate and give space. I am who I am and people just have to get used to it. I'm struggling with being a husband and son and now a father, so I have my plate full."

In fact, Ashwin says he deals with criticism really well. "It keeps me going... these obstacles are not permanent and the way I view it, they tell me that I need to do better. I pay attention to those that mean well," he says.

Books and movies, he adds, are his stress busters. "I'm a loner of sorts. I like my books and movies." Coming back to his award, Ashwin says he's yet to celebrate. "I hardly had the time. I had my second daughter near the announcement date," he says. "My first reaction to the award was, 'Well, ok'. It's great motivation to move ahead. But personally, I leave the past behind and prefer to move on.


Ravichandran Ashwin (L) & captain Virat Kohli (R) with the trophy they won after beating England in Tests at home. (Image: Instagram)

You can't rest on your laurels," he says. His wife Prithi, he says, waited a few days before making news of his second daughter public so that Ashwin could bask in the glory of his new honours. "It was very sweet of her to do that, just so the focus would be on me," says Ashwin.

My fitness journey
Fitness and grooming is something that happened with time, travel and exposure. I attach more importance to it now. I started looking into the mirror a lot more. That has certainly helped (laughs). I didn't have much information on fitness initially and I don't have the best genes. So, I had to work doubly hard. Luckily, I have a good trainer in Shankar Basu, who is with the Indian cricket team (Basu has since taken a break). But it's been a holistic change. It's not just about running and quick results. I didn't do all this hard work to look like what I look now. I did it for the fi eld and the game.

Favourite sportsmen
Clive Lloyd. He transformed West Indies cricket. Vivian Richards, Kapil Dev and Usain Bolt, obviously. I also used to love Maradona, until the controversy came about. But I still love him. I love the entire Spanish football team. I like Marat Safin too, though he's not playing anymore. I don't like Roger Federer, because everyone likes him. I love Novak Djokovic and used to like Rafael Nadal too. I also watch a lot of basketball.