Why superhero Ashwin is the new Rajinikanth of Tamil Nadu
NEW DELHI: In Tamil, the word ‘Thalaiva’ means admired leader. In films, the term is associated with Rajinikanth. In cricket, this term is now associated with Ravichandran Ashwin. Such has been Ashwin’s phenomenal year that his Twitter handle has seen a massive increase in his number of fans. In his current display picture on his handle (@ashwinravi99), his face has been super-imposed on superstar Rajinikanth. Ther cut-out is from Rajinikanth’s block-buster film, Robot.
Ashwin has won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award and also bagged the Test Cricketer of the Year award. These two ICC awards have propelled Ashwin’s popularity chart, especially in Tamil Nadu. Such is the situation that the state is now blessed with two ‘Thalaivas’. The off-spinner could probably be the first ‘mass cricketing icon’ that Tamil Nadu have been looking for.
Going by the recently-concluded Test series, Ashwin and skipper Virat Kohli were the only names chanted by the Indian fans across all the five venues. While a batsmen’s name being chanted is quite regular, it was a rare instance of a bowler’s name being vociferously doing the rounds of the stadiums.
Tamil Nadu has produced cricketing icons like Kris Srikkanth and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, but in Ashwin they seem to have found a star.
In one Facebook page, in a scene from Aamir Khan’s blockbuster film Lagaan, there is a scene in which Aamir’s face is superimposed with Kohli while the character of Kachra, the legspinner played by Aditya Lakhia, has Ashwin’s face superimposed.