Birthday wishes to the inspiring Ashwin!

Ace spinner celebrated his big day in Dubai where he has many friends

Among the first people to wish Delhi Capitals’ Ravichandran Ashwin a Happy Birthday on September 17 was UAE based Ramesh Ramakrishnan (pictured here with Ashwin), a family friend of the legendary Indian off-spinner. Ashwin has been a frequent visitor to UAE for the last few years and the reason behind it is Ramesh’s long-standing relationship with him that led to a tie-up between Ashwin’s Gen-Next cricket academy and UAE based Leap Sports Management firm, run by Vinayy Premkumar and Anusha Ramesh, with Ramesh as a mentor.

Ramesh always makes it a point to be among the first to wish him on his special day, and hence he wished Ashwin at midnight itself. “During my interactions with Ashwin over the years, I have realised that given his technical background, he is analytical in his approach. He is also practical and witty. If you go to him with a problem, he often comes up with some innovative solution. That’s when I thought that he could be of great benefit to budding youngsters and professionals in the UAE, and thus I invited him for many leadership talks.”

Ashwin, who has not only mastered the art of off-spin, but also bowls the carrom ball, leg-spin, and a variety of other deliveries, has also held coaching sessions for some of the leading cricket academies here as requested by Ramesh. His disciplined approach and effective time management helped him complete his Engineering degree while handling the pressures of playing high-level cricket. “I did not get anything on a platter; so to be successful as a cricketer the most important thing is to use the available infrastructure and facility and get better by the day. If you look for short cuts, that will be easily found out when you go up the ladder.”