Nostalgia grips Ravichandran Ashwin as he returns to his roots for fifth Test

Few cricket fans can be considered as lucky as the one who regularly flock to the the MA Chidambaram stadium to witness the game in all its glory. The iconic ground has hosted countless historic matches, right since the early 1930s when cricket was taking its first steps in the country. From Sunil Gavaskar’s 30th Test ton and Narendra Hirwani’s sixteen wickets on debut, to more recent ones including Saeed Anwar’s mammoth 194 and Sachin Tendulkar helping India chase down 387 on the fifth day, the ground has its name next to numerous cricket records.

Chepauk will be the venue for the fifth and final Test of the ongoing India-England series: a match that provides Kohli & Co. the opportunity to end the five-match series 4-0 in their favour. Two local lads, Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin, will lead India’s charge with bat and ball at the grounds where they grew up learning their trade.

For Ashwin, India’s premier spinner and the leader of the Test bowling rankings, return to the historic venue has served as major nostalgia. In a video posted by the BCCI, the 30-year old talked about his experience of watching the games at the venue as a kid, and growing up practising on these very wickets, where he now returns on the back of a stupendous run that has seen him break bowling records for fun.

.@ashwinravi99:Test Cricket’s return to ChennaiFirst Cricket memoryPitch & CuratorChennai CrowdWatch https://t.co/hoIdyMXere

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 14, 2016

Known to be a man who is aware of his numbers, Ashwin starts off by recalling the last time the team played a Test here, against Australia in February 2013. It was the first time Ashwin was representing India at his home crowd, with his family and friends in attendance at the venue. He capped off the proud moment by capturing 12 Australian wickets, his second best match figures in Tests till then.

He describes how, nearly four years hence, he is in “a far better space” and “enjoying his cricket” at a place where coming back is second nature to him. He looks forward to the way the crowd erupts whenever he walks into bat or bowl, a ground where he represented the now suspended Chennai Super Kings until last year.

He has been watching cricket at the venue since the 1992-93 fixture between India and England, recalling how Sachin Tendulkar made a brilliant century in a match that the hosts won by an innings and 22 runs. With a hint of smile, Ashwin stated that he has never missed watching a match ever since.

Loved dearly by the crowds in Chennai, the city, and its “traditional and easy-going” people, hold a special place in Ashwin’s heart. Despite becoming the star he is, he acknowledged the role of the curator in shaping his career in his formative years. Despite the inaccessibility due to fallen trees outside the stadium, he firmly believes that the crowds will turn up in huge numbers, especially because the “cricket-starved” city has not seen CSK play for a while.

Talking about the nature of the pitch for the final Test, Ashwin observed that the surface, which generally sports red soil, has a layer of black soil on top. The key factor, he believes, is the bounce, which he hopes will be enough. Ending on a positive note, he reverberated Kohli’s words, saying that the team will aim for a 4-0 scoreline if they stay disciplined.