Former Indian cricket team spinner R Ashwin was awarded the Padma Shri award as the final list of 139 individuals was unveiled for the coveted civilian awards on Saturday. Ashwin’s former teammate Subramaniam Badrinath took to social media to congratulate the spinner on his massive achievement. “First TN cricketer to get a Padma Shri. Can’t ask for a better role model for any youngster, feeling proud, truly deserved @ashwinravi99,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). However, he was corrected by another former cricketer WV Raman who pointed out that Ashwin was not the first Tamil Nadu cricketer to be awarded Padma Shri. Legendary spinner Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003 – a fact that WV Raman pointed out in his reply on social media.

Former men’s hockey captain P R Sreejesh was chosen for the Padma Bhushan, while recently-retired cricket star Ravichandran Ashwin was among the Padma Shri winners as four athletes and a para-athletics coach figured in the list of 139 that was unveiled for the coveted civilian awards on Saturday.

Venkatraghavan is the first TN cricketer to get a Padma Shri in 2003! https://t.co/eRzj2EuRnb

— WV Raman (@wvraman) January 25, 2025

Legendary Indian footballer I M Vijayan and India’s first Paralympic gold medal-winning archer Harvinder Singh too were named for the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour.

Para athletics coach Satyapal Singh, who mentored Paris Paralympics gold-winning and Khel Ratna-awardee high-jumper Praveen Kumar, would also be bestowed with the Padma Shri.

“It’s (award) because of the faith reposed in me by so many people. I have been associated with Praveen Kumar since 2018 and a lot of credit goes to my ward for this award,” Satyapal told PTI.

The five were picked for the Padma awards by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of the 76th Republic Day.

The 36-year-old Sreejesh, who retired after winning a second successive Olympic bronze with the national team in Paris Olympics, is currently the head coach of the junior men’s team.

(With PTI inputs)

It was a horrible campaign for Indian cricket team star batter Virat Kohli in the recently-concluded Test series against Australia. Although he scored a brilliant century in the first Test encounter in Perth, he failed to score big after that and finished with just 190 runs in 5 matches. Kohli’s weakness against bowls outside the off-stump was another point of discussion and it resulted in massive criticism both from fans as well as experts. Recently, there has been a lot of chat about Kohli not learning from his mistakes and allegedly not paying heed to coaching instructions.

In a conversation with former India batter Subramaniam Badrinath on YouTube, former India coach Bharat Arun opened up about what it was like coaching Kohli and how exactly he reacted to criticism and advice from the coaches.

“See, Virat Kohli will definitely ask. If you suggest changes to him or anything like that, you should have a very good reason as to why you are suggesting it. I am sure that he will do so because he is the No. 1 batter in the world. When you make suggestions about what is wrong, he will ask questions like – what is wrong with me and how did I miss my runs,” Bharat Arun explained during the conversation.

Meanwhile, former batter Robin Uthappa has held Virat Kohli indirectly responsible for cutting short Yuvraj Singh‘s international career after he beat cancer to return to the team, saying the flamboyant all-rounder’s request for certain fitness concessions was denied by the then India captain.

One of India’s finest players in white-ball cricket, Yuvraj was one of the big reasons for the team’s twin World Cup success under MS Dhoni‘s leadership, but after the title triumph in the 2011 ODI showpiece, he was diagnosed with cancer and was promptly treated for the same in the US.

Yuvraj then made a remarkable recovery to fight his way back into the Indian team and also scored a hundred against England in an ODI, but after a quiet outing in the Champions Trophy in 2017, he was ignored and decided to retire from the game in 2019.

 (With IANS inputs)

One of India’s finest cricketers of this generation, Ravichandran Ashwin stunned the sporting world with his abrupt retirement announcement after the end of the third Test against Australia in Brisbane. Ashwin, who bows out as India’s second-highest wicket-taker across formats, didn’t even get to feature in a farewell game, as he decided it was time for him to say goodbye to the international stage. While many theories have emerged behind Ashwin’s exit, former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Subramaniam Badrinath has claimed that the spinner was unhappy for quite some time.

Badrinath expressed his surprise at Ashwin’s retirement, particularly regarding its timing and manner. He feels that Ashwin did not receive the treatment he deserved from the team management.

“I am shocked. I think, to be honest, he wasn’t treated fairly. Rohit Sharma said he wanted to leave after the Perth Test match. He wanted to leave when Washington Sundar was played ahead of him. That tells you he was not happy,” Badrinath said in a chat on Star Sports Tamil.

“Honestly, I am saying something, it’s a big thing for a cricketer from Tamil Nadu. There are many reasons for that. Players from a few other states get better chances. Despite all these odds, Ashwin went on to take more than 500 wickets and became a legend,” he added.

Badrinath even claimed that efforts were made to ‘sideline’ Ashwin but he continued to bounce back. But with Washington Sundar being preferred over him in the team, Ashwin decided that his time with the team was up.

“Imagine what he must have gone through. I know he has faced quite a few things. On many occasions, efforts were made to sideline him. But every time, he has bounced back like a phoenix bird,” he added.

Ashwin didn’t even stay back with the team after the conclusion of the Brisbane Test and decided to return home. Upon his arrival in Chennai, the legendary spinner said that he had ‘no regrets’ over his retirement decision.

The plethora of talent that Indian cricket has often made it difficult for players to retain a sustained place in the national team. While Rinku Singh became the victim of competition at the T20 World Cup 2024, Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t get a spot in the team for the tour of Sri Lanka. Neither of the two batters has done anything wrong to sit in the situation they have been in. Still, it’s team combination and preference of different kinds of players that forced the selectors to snub them for different assignments. But, not everyone is understandably happy seeing such selection snubs, with former India and Chennai Super Kings batter S Badrinath making some scathing comments in this regard.

Badrinath himself took to social media as he shared the video of him launching an attack at the selection committee. He admitted being shocked that Gaikwad didn’t make the team for the Sri Lanka series.

From the comments made in the video, it was quite understood that the former India star wasn’t happy seeing his former franchise’s current captain being overlooked despite delivering brilliant performances.

Shocked and surprised not to see Ruturaj Gaikwad in the Indian Team for both T20I and ODIs.

My Thoughts https://t.co/EBKnryFSUM#INDvSL #CricItWithBadri pic.twitter.com/OilIH1J4CB

— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) July 20, 2024

He even claimed that maybe players need to have relationships with certain Bollywood actresses and have tattoos on the body to be consistently picked.

“Sometimes it seems like you need a bad guy image when the likes of Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad and others are not selected for the Indian team. It seems that you need to be in a relationship with some Bollywood actresses, have a good media manager, and have body tattoos,” Badrinath could be heard as saying in the video clip.

Ruturaj was a part of the Indian team for the Zimbabwe T20Is, producing scores of 7, 77 and 49 before being rested for the 5th T20I as India had already won the series. He wasn’t named in India’s T20I squad for the Zimbabwe tour, with the selectors preferring Yashasvi Jaiswal while the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant also returned to the fold. Rinku Singh, however, was picked in the team.