He's been a massive influence, wanted his attention in IPL: Ashwin on MS Dhoni

Team India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed how MS Dhoni was a 'massive influence' on his career and claimed that he was driven by an intense desire to get the attention of the Chennai Super Kings skipper during his early IPL days.

The veteran spinner also said the successful stint with CSK helped shape his career.

"IPL and CSK is a stage that everyone wants. For me it was more about recognition. MSD did not know who Ashwin is, (Matthew) Hayden and (Muttiah) Muralitharan did not know who Ashwin is."

"The first thing that came to my mind was that ‘I will show these people that Ashwin is here’," Ashwin told Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz in Conversation.

"I don’t know it was being foolish or arrogance but that was how I was made. Nobody was giving me a chance that Ashwin will play alongside Muralitharan or ahead of Muralitharan. I thought, I will get there ahead of him one day," he added.

Ashwin also revealed how the only way to impress Dhoni was by troubling him in the nets.

"I got the eye of Hayden, Jacob Oram, and Stephen Fleming while bowling to them at the nets. They were finding it difficult to face me in the first year (2008) but I had not caught the eye of MSD," he said.

"I never had massive interactions with him. It was going to the nets and getting MSD...he was hitting Muralitharan out of the park and I thought, if I bowl better than him, I met get to play ahead of Murali."

"I got his attention when I got him during a Challenger trophy and celebrated like a crazy kid," he recalled.

The coronavirus outbreak brought most sports activities to a halt with players practising social distancing and self-isolation during the pandemic.

The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced that the 13th edition Indian Premier League (IPL) has been suspended till further notice amid coronavirus pandemic.

The opening match of this year's IPL was supposed to be played between the most successful teams of IPL - defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 29.