Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
A nationwide lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19 in March this year had allowed a lot people to rediscover old talents and hone new ones. With all the international sporting events cancelled in those first few months, many sportspersons became more active on social media. But the one cricketer who really put himself out there for his fans was Ravichandran Ashwin.
The senior Indian spinner started a YouTube channel in April, where he posted videos reminiscing iconic cricket matches from the past. Soon after, he began interacting with his teammates, former cricketers and other names from the cricketing fraternity in live sessions posted on his Instagram handle. These were also posted on YouTube.
In a video celebrating 100,000 subscribers, Ashwin said, “I started this YouTube channel and started producing this content for all of you. I think all of you are enjoying. In fact, my thought process was that there was a lot of negativity going on because of the lockdown. The coronavirus had struck us really strongly. So I thought I’d spread some positivity.”
Ashwin said that the positive response on his videos had made him feel like ‘welling up at times’. He called his channel ‘AshTube’, and said the subscribers were as close to him as his family.
As the cricketer turns 34 on 17 September, we take a look at some of the highlights from his interviews so far.
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