The 6-day quarantine was one of the worst times in my life: Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has mentioned that the six-day quarantine period that he underwent in Dubai was one of the worst times of his life. He expressed his happiness at the entire Delhi Capitals squad testing negative and coming out for training.

In a video shared on Delhi Capitals' YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin was asked how he had spent his time during the six-day quarantine in the Dubai hotel. The ace spinner responded that he was at home for the last few months but had the company of his family, with some social media work also keeping him busy.

"I was at home for the last five-six months. But I had people to fall upon. I was doing my own work on my YouTube channel, trying to keep myself occupied on Instagram Live and all that."

Always wanted to do this!! Please do not miss this weekly segment premiering today evening and subsequently every Monday. #hellodubaiahh 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻https://t.co/jNhgUzHb3v pic.twitter.com/p1vUlyGaCe

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) August 24, 2020

Ravichandran Ashwin observed that the six days he had spent in quarantine at the Dubai hotel were probably the worst moments of his life. He added that although he could see the Dubai Lake and Burj Khalifa from his hotel room, it was not possible to keep watching them all the time.

"But for me, those six days can easily be called out as the one of the worst times in my life. Because the first day was like I was looking out and I can see the Dubai Lake. I look to my right, I can see the Burj Khalifa. It is wonderful but how long can one sit outside and watch? And it is extremely hot."

Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that his mobile phone usage increased substantially over those six days.

"Generally I don't watch a lot of mobile phone, I don't use it for a long time. I have a cap of about two to two and a half hours. But all of a sudden I am seeing today, that my mobile usage for the last week or so has been six hours."

The 33-year-old expressed his delight at the quarantine period being over and being able to come out to train, as he was almost feeling sick inside the hotel room.

"And I was getting sick because for me, I couldn't even read the books as my concentration was all over the place. But thankfully six days were over and everybody tested negative and we came out."

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Ravichandran Ashwin looking forward to playing for the Delhi Capitals

Ravichandran Ashwin has moved to Delhi Capitals from Kings XI Punjab

Ravichandran Ashwin was further asked how it felt to finally meet his Delhi Capitals teammates. The former KXIP captain responded that although the IPL was expected to be played in April-May, he is happy that the tournament was taking place at least.

"You expected the IPL to happen 4-5 months ago and it's happening now. I have no complaints. It looked like there is going to be no cricket at all and then you got the IPL."

Ravichandran Ashwin mentioned that he is looking forward to work alongside Ricky Ponting, who is the Delhi Capitals' head coach, with whom he has had some interesting discussions already.

"I was looking forward to work with Punter and I am still looking forward to working with Punter. We had some wonderful conversations over the last week or so."

We are all set !! At 4 pm IST 🤩🤩 #hellodubaiahh https://t.co/CAOmp548ma pic.twitter.com/hxO8rsdTR4

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) September 2, 2020

The lanky off-spinner observed that Shreyas Iyer, who is the Delhi Capitals captain, is a capable leader with a clear thought process.

"And Shreyas is a lovely, lovely leader. I think very young and I have had a couple of chats with him. I think he is very, very clear in his head about what he wants to do."

Ravichandran Ashwin signed off by stating that the entire Delhi Capitals squad has positive vibes around it and that he is looking forward to playing for the franchise in IPL 2020.

"And the whole atmosphere around the team is quite good. It is very energetic and there is hardly anything ill-spoken of. There has been nothing negative that has happened so far. There are a lot of youngsters, so the mood in the camp is extremely exuberant and I am looking forward to it."

Ravichandran Ashwin will be donning the Delhi Capitals jersey for the first time in IPL 2020. The wily spinner has accounted for 125 wickets in the IPL so far, having represented the Chennai Super Kings, the Rising Pune Supergiant and the Kings XI Punjab previously.