Ashwin says happiness of pursuing excellence keeps him going

What is the difference between success and excellence? Success is related to outcome, while excellence is the fulfilment of a process. Success has a flip side, which is failure. Excellence is permanent.

Ravichandran Ashwin has achieved humongous success in his glorious cricket career. He has more than 3,000 Test runs, including six hundreds, and over 500 wickets. He is a World Cup winner. Still, at the age of 38, his hunger remains insatiable. He rigorously pursues excellence. What makes him do that?

“Happiness,” said Ashwin at the press conference on Friday, after scoring 113 in the first Test against Bangladesh and taking India to a winning position. “You want to be good, you excel (and) you feel happy at the end of the day. It drives me towards that and I feel every time I do well, it leaves me in a good, happy state of mind.”

For a player like Ashwin, a great of the game in his own right, reputation matters a lot. “That’s what you get on this journey for, right,” said the master performer. “You want to do well, you want to excel on a global stage, people are watching you and then you feel happy about it, having been in a contest and coming out successful out of the contest. So, yeah, the underlying truth is that it gives me a lot of happiness competing in this game and this is just a vehicle for me to compete and feel good about myself and be happy at the end of the day.”

Ashwin was asked to compare between the happiness of scoring a century and coming up with a five-wicket or a ten-wicket haul. He searched for an answer. “I don’t know how to answer that question,” said Ashwin. “I mean, you want to do well every single day and I will take, I mean, you are excelling, you are excelling on a particular day. (And) on that given day you will take what you get.”

He spoke about enjoying his batting: “I just stayed in the moment and I enjoyed my batting yesterday. I thought I enjoyed it this morning also. I have been putting a lot of work on it, doesn’t matter whether it’s batting or bowling. Honestly, at this point of time in my career, I just want to be good on that day and probably, you know, be my best.”

Tipping his hat to Jadeja

“I always envy him (Ravindra Jadeja),” Ashwin said tongue in cheek. From 144/6, the two put on 199 runs for the seventh wicket to take the game away from the tourists. Jadeja missed his hundred, but he came back to take two important wickets. “I have made that amply clear. (He is) so gifted, so talented. He has found ways to maximise his potential,” said Ashwin, adding: “Keeps it really simple. He can repeat it day in and day out. I wish I could be him, but I am glad I am myself.”

Jadeja, meanwhile, didn’t read too much into missing out on a century. “Got out today, part and parcel,” he told the host broadcaster.

He is now just four wickets shy of taking 300 Test scalps. “Happy with my bowling. Good opportunity to take my 300th Test wicket at this ground,” said the all-rounder. Chepauk is the Chennai Super Kings player’s spiritual home.