"Dance is something that is completely out of syllabus for me"- Ashwin to Shardul Thakur

Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has uploaded a couple of dance videos to his social media handles in recent months. However, in a light-hearted conversation with all-rounder Shardul Thakur, Ashwin admitted that dancing is one skill he is not very good at.

Ashwin’s ‘Vaathi Coming’ dance moves in a clip which also featured Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav went viral back in February. A few days back, Ashwin posted another dance video in which he is seen with all-rounder Washington Sundar and data analyst Hari Prasad Mohan. The trio grooved to the hit Tamil song ‘Chellamma’.

With the second day’s play in the ongoing Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion being washed out, Ashwin engaged in a chat with Thakur. Speaking about his dancing skills in the video posted on bcci.tv, Ashwin conceded:

“Dance is something that is completely out of syllabus for me. I look at myself and think that I want to dance in a certain way but I definitely cannot. (On ‘Vaathi Coming’ dance). I think actor Vijay got inspired by me and then he ended up doing it (smiles).”

Ashwin further claimed that he decided to upload the ‘Chellamma’ clip after watching a dance video featuring Thakur, Shreyas Iyer and Rohit Sharma. The 35-year-old explained:

“The video of me, Washi and Hari, I was not going to post it. I had it in my camera roll for a very long time. Only after I saw you, Shreyas (Iyer) and Rohit (Sharma) shake your leg, I thought I’ll put it out. It seemed very similar although you were better choreographed.”

Last month, Rohit posted a video of him, Thakur and Iyer dancing to the remix of the song 'Shehri Babu'. Rohit uploaded the video after Iyer scored a memorable hundred on Test debut.

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Ravichandran Ashwin recently opened up on Sydney batting heroics

Ashwin has been in the news for his detailed interview in which he spoke about ‘feeling crushed’ and also contemplating retirement. The off-spinner recently also opened up on how he battled unbearable back pain en route to his heroics in Sydney with the bat at the start of the year.

Speaking on the chat show Backstage with Boria, Ashwin recalled:

"I crawled outside the door and kept yelling for the physio. I went into a hot shower, so that’s when my back started warming up. I don’t know how I went to the game. My daughter held my shorts – she just pushed the shorts up, and as she pushed up my shorts, I was tearing up. My wife asked, ‘You are going to play a game?’. I said: ‘I have to’."

Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari, himself batting with a hamstring injury, pulled off a great escape for India in Sydney, displaying great guts and gumption. India went on to win the next Test at the Gabba to clinch the series 2-1.