Ravichandran Ashwin will be the first Indian cricketer to play in the BBL ©Getty
Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to receive a grand welcome when he arrives in Australia in the new year. And it's not just the top brass at Sydney Thunder who'll be lining up to greet the superstar Indian spinner as he becomes the first Indian cricketer to play in the Big Bash League.
Ashwin is instead likely to be sought by a number of stakeholders within and around Australian cricket as he makes his way here to pave an unprecedented path in January.
While the final bits of the official contract that'll bring him to Sydney are still being sorted out, the 39-year-old is likely to join his new team post January 5 once he's done with his maiden stint in the ILT20. This could mean he might be potentially available to make his BBL debut a day later when Thunder take on Adelaide Strikers at the Adelaide Oval.
That'll mean Ashwin could feature in four league games and be available for the finals series with the BBL Final scheduled for January 25. He'll play under the captaincy of David Warner, who he had numerous on-field battles against in international cricket and share the Thunder dressing-room with the likes of Sam Konstas, Lockie Ferguson and Sam Billings. Though not confirmed yet, it's likely that Ashwin will come in place of Pakistani legspinner Shadab Khan as a replacement.
If the Thunder do make the second phase of the tournament, Ashwin would have then appeared in nearly 50 per cent of the games, despite missing out on the club's first six home-and-away games of the season.
For now, the deal with the Tamil Nadu star is centred mainly around BBL'25. It is learnt though that the discussions he's had with the clubs and Cricket Australia have also covered the possibility of him being available for a bigger chunk of the 2026-27 edition of the BBL.
The details of Ashwin's deal with Sydney Thunder are said to be still fleshed out but approaches from other clubs have been well-publicised. No surprises then that reports on Wednesday of it being finalised were received with great aplomb across the corridors of Australian cricket.
Firstly, it might open the doors for much-vaunted private investment into the league, at a time not all parties here are still on board. But with more immediacy, the eyeballs it'll bring to Australia's T20 competition as it continues to navigate its way back to the top bracket of leagues around the world.
Ashwin of course brings a lot more to the table than just his incredible skills as a cricketer. There's the wide reach he has through his YouTube channel, which has over a million subscribers. At Sydney, he'll also be expected to play an active role off the field in terms of growing connections with the South Asian diaspora in different parts of the city. To have an Indian cricketer of Ashwin's profile is believed to automatically create an enhanced sense of connection with the club, especially for the many Indian settlers in the northern parts of Sydney. There is also the possibility of media commitments around the BBL even as he continues to build on his YouTube audience.
There's a sense of excitement around Ashwin's imminent arrival amongst a number of the playing cohort in the BBL as the cricket season begins to warm up with most major cities having hosted a domestic game by now. In addition to the overall value of having someone of his calibre come be a part of the league, there's also intrigue around how he'd fare on the Australian pitches. Not to forget some of the unique playing conditions of the BBL, the Power Surge for example.
"Oh, he'll be a nightmare to face on those pitches at Engie. Thunder might well end up playing a bunch of spinners. But Ashwin will love to bowl there and will lift the Thunder as a team immensely," says a player who plies his trade for Sydney Sixers.
While Ashwin is learnt to have been approached by some high-profile figures from a number of the other teams, there's an overwhelming belief in cricket circles here about the significant role played by former New South Wales and Test seamer turned general manager at Thunder, Trent Copeland, in getting the deal over the line.
"Copes is a smart man and also a great connector of people. It also helps that he's just coming off being a player, and he's got a pulse on the current cricket climate and where it's headed," said another player from one of the other teams.
It was Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg who'd made the first approach last month to Ashwin, as was reported originally by Cricbuzz. Before the offer was made to all the BBL teams to make their own pitch. While it looks like Sydney Thunder will be the one to score a rather significant addition to their roster, this has in many ways been a collaborative effort.
As one high-ranking official with one of the teams put it, "The moment Ashwin coming to the BBL became a possibility, we just had to jump at it as a league. Look, every team would have loved having him play for them, but ultimately we needed to make the most of this opportunity and bring him on board, regardless whose colours he ends up wearing."
© Cricbuzz
