Internet Desk: The 2016 IPL Auctions saw a lot of eye-grabbing bids. While some of the biggest international superstars missed out on getting IPL contracts, few uncapped rookies were brought by staggering amounts . The man who made all the attraction after Pawan Negi was Murugan Ashwin who was picked up by Rising Pune Supergiants for a whooping 4.5crores after his base price was only 10 lakhs.
Son of a Tamil film scriptwriter Murugan has really surprised one and all .
Murugan has a lot of similarity with his illustrious senior Ravi Ashwin . Both did their graduation from Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering in Chennai.
While Ravi Ashwin is an off-spinner, M Ashwin bowls leg-break. Murugan revealed,” I knew Ashwin since a long time . Both of us completed our graduation from the same college but our relationship became stronger when we both played for Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy where he was my captain. He helped me grow as a spinner and boosted my confidence.”
Murugan started playing cricket from the age of six and had an impressive disguised googly . He used to play in his locality with his fellow friends and kept on bowling leg-spin hours after hours. His friends kept on encouraging him as they found his bowling unique and he enjoyed their praise. Ashwin played all age group level of cricket for TNCA as well as TNCA club cricket. His googly was highly successful for him during the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Having played 6 matches, he picked up 10 wickets at an economy under 6 and strike rate close to 14.
He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu against Odisha in the 2012 Ranji Trophy. It turned out to be a frustrating debut for the 22-year-old as 3 days of the game was washed out and he did not get a chance to bowl. He was highly expensive in the next match against Karnataka ending up with figures of 1/176. His List A debut came against Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2016. He bowled alongside Ravi Ashwin and picked up 3/38 in 7.2 over’s that he bowled picking up the key wicket of centurion Akhil Herwadkar. Tamil Nadu won the match by 26 runs.
He was first spotted at the CSK nets at Chepauk when he was bowling to Faf Du’Plessis and Brendon McCullum at tandem and they faced little difficulty to play him . His bowling was keenly watched by Dhoni and Fleming. He later revealed,” Dhoni did not speak to me but kept on watching my bowling and said something to Fleming. Fleming later had a chat with me. He told me how to bowl at T20 cricket with a lot more variations . On being asked how to bowl to left handers like Gayle, Raina and Warner, he replied,” They are world class batsmen. It would be a challenging task to bowl to them and likewise I am preparing myself.”
Ashwin thanked Dhoni and Ashwin for recommending his name to the Pune franchisee. He said he he is highly obliged and grateful to them and the franchisee too for picking him in the auction. He signed off saying,” I would try to live up to the expectations of the franchise and team management.”