Rajkot (Gujarat): Star India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who achieved the 500 Test wickets milestone on Friday, asserted that people doubted him whether he could be a good Test bowler when he made his debut in 2011.
Ashwin achieved this feat during the ongoing third Test of the five-match series against England here. The off-spinner was on 499 scalps at the end of the second Test in Visakhapatnam and completed his 500th wicket by dismissing England opener Zak Crawley the second day of the Rajkot.
"I had a reasonable first-class (cricket) start to my life. My first-class career was pretty good. But nevertheless, the stage in the Indian Premier League made me visible to a lot of people and I eventually got my Test debut. People doubted me whether I could be a Test bowler and 10-13 years later not bad, not a bad achievement. I'm pretty glad,” Ashwin told Jio Cinemas.
Ashwin is the second India bowler after legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets. Kumble has 619 Test wickets. The 37-year-old Ashwin said he has no particular aim of pushing for more and try and get to Kumble's record.
"The very simple answer is no' 120 wickets away. Every day is what I want to live for, and, I'm 37 years old. I don't know what's in store next," Ashwin told the media here after stumps on the second day.
"What's in store for the next two months? You play this series and then what lies ahead, you really don't know. I don't want to really jump the gun. I've kept it this way for the last 4-5 years and it's been very simple and it's worked for me. Why change anything that's working for you?" Ashwin added.
He has fought a battle of perception for a long time in his career but recent years have helped him be at ease. "I've always fought a level of perception in my life, about what people think of me. But definitely, in the last five-six years, I've actually not cared about it. I can't keep proving everybody wrong and I can't prove everybody right. I'm glad that somebody is happy and somebody is not," he added.