Ravichandran Ashwin silenced the trolls, including Royal Challengers Bangalore owner Vijay Mallya, after an indifferent IPL 2010, with a match-winning spell in the 2011 finals for Chennai Super Kings.

The off-spinner, who had been bought by Chennai Super Kings in 2009, did not leave much of a mark in that season, picking up two wickets in as many matches. Retained ahead of 2010, Ashwin started the edition with three wickets in his first three matches, before going wicketless in the next two games. The turning point was the league match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which Ashwin later described as a “hard slap” in the face.

What happened?

In the match against RCB, Ashwin conceded 40 overs in his four overs and was taken to the cleaners by Robin Uthappa and Mark Boucher. Following the uninspiring show, Ashwin was dropped from the squad midway through the season. For the uninitiated, in the first few seasons of the IPL, franchises could release players who were not in the first 18 in order to save hotel costs. Ashwin watched the next few CSK matches on TV, which proved to be a turning point for him.

“I was dropped, I vacated the hotel and was sitting at home. Robin Uthappa and Mark Boucher taught me harsh lessons as I bowled 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th over at RCB,” Ashwin explained on an ESPNcricinfo podcast with Sanjay Manjrekar. “That youth in me never told me that it was a challenge. I found it as an opportunity to pick wickets. When I was dropped from the squad, it felt like a hard slap.

“People thought that I think highly of myself but the flattening of the curve happened when I played in the IPL. It was like a slap in the face like ‘listen boss you are not even here. I thought bowling in a T20 game was much easier than bowling in a first-class game.”

Ashwin went on to recall how he was disappointed with the lack of communication from then-coach Stephen Fleming. “Actually, I had an issue with Stephen Fleming that he didn’t have a chat. I valued him so much and he didn’t have a chat. So I was sitting at home watching CSK games and making promises in my head that one day I will turn the tide.”

Ashwin was not picked for the T20 World Cup later that year, missing out from the 15 despite being named in the list of 30 probables.

How did he manage to turn the tide?

Despite the indifferent showing from Ashwin in the first half of IPL 2010, the franchise bestowed their faith on the off-spinner and were determined to buy him back during the mega auctions ahead of the 2011 season. The spinner’s price started at $100,000, with RCB entering the bidding race along with CSK. RCB owner Mallya, who was clearly not interested in buying Ashwin, nonetheless kept going after the cricketer to increase the amount that CSK would have to shed to buy him back.

Most shocking thing was he and the entire RCB representatives started to laugh at CSK for spending so much on him pic.twitter.com/3ylebN0VmC

— Darshith AshStan🦁 (@darshith_kark4) September 17, 2021

However, the MS Dhoni-led team did not relent, which forced Mallya into laughter as he signalled that Ashwin was not worth the $850,000 that was eventually spent on him.

In middle of the Bidding Mallya started mocking CSK to keep him with them. But to the surprise he again started bidding for Ashwin (to increase his price) pic.twitter.com/ejnMq9Ck1r

— Darshith AshStan🦁 (@darshith_kark4) September 17, 2021

However, the team’s backing proved to work wonders, as Ashwin picked up 20 wickets in the 2011 season of the IPL, including a crucial 3-16 in the final, against, well, you guessed it, RCB. The Tamil Nadu player first started by picking up Chris Gayle for a three-ball duck. He still believes the spell is one of the best of his career.

Chasing 206 runs, Gayle, RCB’s leading run-scorer in the tournament, was troubled by Ashwin, who first bowled a short of a length delivery that turned away from the batter in the very first over. The second ball saw Gayle being forced to play inside the line before Ashwin changed his pace and induced an outside edge off Gayle’s bat.

CSK eventually won by 58 runs. Ashwin had had the last laugh.