Ravichandran Ashwin believes MS Dhoni’s wicketkeeping is the best he has ever seen, going so far as to say he hasn’t encountered another player who works with the same instinct and precision behind the stumps, particularly when facing spin. Ashwin, who spent years sharing dressing rooms with Dhoni in India and later at Chennai Super Kings, pointed out that while Dhoni’s captaincy is widely celebrated, the real difference for him lay in the details—quick hands, calm decision-making and a mindset that made bowlers feel in total control.
Speaking on JioStar’s “The Ravichandran Ashwin Experience,” Ashwin said, “His glovework has always amazed me. People talk a lot about his captaincy, and rightly so—the titles speak for themselves. But for me, two things stand out—one, how good a middle-order batter he was, someone who could take the game deep and finish it. And the second is his keeping against spinners. I haven’t seen anyone else like him.”
Ashwin also underscored how Dhoni’s approach as a wicketkeeper was not about micromanaging. Instead, he described a hands-off style that empowered the bowler to trust his own plan and execute it without second thoughts. Ashwin recalled, “He never set the field for me. I would set my own field, and he would just say, ‘Don’t double-guess. Don’t pre-empt. If you get hit, it’s fine. If someone takes a risk, let it be. Just bowl to your field.’ He trusted that.”
Looking back on key moments, Ashwin remembered dismissing Chris Gayle in the 2011 IPL final with a three-ball duck, crediting Dhoni for taking a sharp catch that came at a crucial time. Ashwin said, “You can talk about the set-up and the dismissal, but how well MS took that catch. It wasn’t easy.”
From there, Ashwin broadened the conversation to his long IPL journey and the way different franchises shaped him. With 187 wickets in 221 matches across an IPL career running from 2009 to 2025 and involving five franchises, Ashwin admitted he couldn’t quite make Punjab Kings feel like “his” team, despite leading them in 2018-19. He explained that while he gave his best, the squad-building process didn’t fully revolve around him in the way he had hoped.
“When Punjab picked me in 2018, I knew I was moving on… I spent two years there and honestly gave it everything,” Ashwin said. “But I have a slight feeling that I couldn’t make that team my own. At an auction, you get the chance to build your team… the team couldn’t quite be built around me. I may not have achieved much as a Captain, but the learnings were immense.”
He added that his spell with Rajasthan Royals was the most rewarding chapter of his franchise career. Ashwin said, “I spent three years there, and that stint helped me make a comeback to the Indian team. The way RR utilised me was first-class, and I enjoyed my cricket there like nowhere else.” He then pointed to one lingering disappointment from that period: “My only small regret is that I couldn’t win a title with RR… That was one small regret.”
Ashwin also revisited another contentious IPL talking point from his time as Punjab captain—an incident involving Jos Buttler and a non-striker run-out. He maintained that he did nothing wrong, arguing that the governing body’s laws already allow for such situations and that intent should not be questioned when the game’s regulations are followed. “If the ICC felt this was an honesty problem, they wouldn’t keep it in the rules. If you need two runs off one ball and you start running early, whose fault is it?” Ashwin said.
He continued, “People say I did it to win. Of course, I did it to win. What is there to be ashamed of? After I ran him out, I told the team… ‘don’t worry about the reaction, I will handle the media, we just have to win.’ And we won. So, there is no issue of character in this.”
