Former India head coach Rahul Dravid recalled R Ashwin's 'how to play spin in India' video during the home Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia as he sat down to chat with the former India spinner for 'Kutti Stories with Ash'. Ashwin asked at the start of the video if Dravid had seen any of the content on his YouTube channel, to which he mentioned that he doesn't watch much content, but recalled the 2023 video when not just Ashwin, but even the then-India head coach suffered backlash.
Ashwin had put out the review of the second Test in Delhi on his YouTube channel, where he cryptically suggested to the Australian batters not to go sweeping around anything and everything. However, since the previous title of the video was such and it was released in the middle of the series, the senior cricketer was at the receiving end of criticism if he should be doing that. Dravid recalled the incident and made a hilarious revelation of criticism he got.
"You even coached the Australian team. I got sent a clip. Unfortunately, it was in Tamil. So that's the one I've seen about you. You're speaking in Tamil and with a little bit of Tamil that I understand, you're coaching the Australian team in the middle of the Australian series, how to play spin. And I'm thinking, Ash, the series is not over," Dravid told Ashwin on the podcast. "I know that you got the flak for it. The flak I got was ‘Ashwin is coaching better than you are — what are you doing?"
Ashwin justified his stance once again, but went on to mention that the video reached not just Dravid but also the opposition camp, where Mitchell Starc mentioned it to him jokingly, while the Rajasthan Royal head coach wondered who taught the Aussie pacer Tamil?
“If I knew how to do that, I would have told our boys how to play spin. I mean, why would I go and tell the Aussies? An interesting thing was that (Mitchell) Starc came and told me. I mean, he bowled a bumper, and I just left it in the Indore Test match. I think we were 80 for 7 or something. We went for lunch, and he was walking with me. He was like, 'Can I tell you how to play the bouncer like your YouTube video?," Ashwin said.
Dravid cut him off in between saying, "It's good to know that Starc knows Tamil." Before Ashwin continued, "I think it was maybe the Australian guys got some Tamil guy."
India lost the very next match in Indore, the game which Ashwin mentioned during the discussion, as Australia kept the series alive, going into the final Test in Ahmedabad. The series decider dished out a flat track, ending in a draw as India sealed the series 2-1.
