Team India’s senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin isn’t one of the first names on the team sheets whenever the national team plays Test cricket on foreign soil. In the recently-concluded World Test Championship between India and Australia, Ravindra Jadeja was given preference over current World’s number one Test bowler Ashwin for the sole spinner’s spot in India XI which sparked a massive debate on social media among fans and cricket pundits.

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Over the years, there’s a popular perception that Ashwin tends to ‘overthink’ on certain occasions, which has worked against him on multiple occasions. In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Ashwin spoke about how he feels about being branded as an ‘overthinker’ and ‘trauma’ he and his family have gone through over the years.

“A lot of people marketed me and positioned me that I am an overthinker. A person who will get 15-20 matches on the go doesn’t have to be mentally overthinking. A person who knows that they will get only two games will be traumatised and will be overthinking because it’s my job. It’s my journey. So this is what suits me,” he said.

“If somebody is going to tell me, ‘you’re going to play 15 matches, you will be looked after, you will be this, you are responsible for players, you are in the leadership role, I won’t be overthinking. Why would I?

“It’s unfair to actually say somebody’s an overthinker because that person’s journey is his own. And nobody has a right or business to do that,” he further said.

Here’s what Ashwin said on the ‘overthinker’ tag

“It was created to work against me, right? And as I said, there have been statements that people have made all along when leadership question has come my way, there have been people who are been out there telling, my name is not the first name on the sheet when India tour abroad.

“Whether that name is first on the sheet or not is something I can’t control. If I earned it, it’s got to be there and that’s my belief. As I said, I have no complaints, I have no time to sit back and throw punches or regret or anything. I have no regrets about anyone,” he explained.

Ashwin revealed that his family, especially his father, goes through twice the trauma he does whenever it comes to such affairs.

“The moment, the final finished I put out a tweet because I realised one thing is that I need closure. The moment I get the closure I can move on. There is no time to hang around. I have understood life a lot better now.

“The more I see it, the kind of trauma toll it takes on my family is incredible. My father has a heart problem and other issues. Every single game, every single day, something happens, he will call me. He is stressed. It’s very easy for me to go out and play because it is still in my control. For my father, it is not and he goes through double of what I do. So looking at this in hindsight, everybody on the outside is irrelevant,” Ashwin explained.