 "Ashwin is a 'cricket geek,' I have tried to implement his skill: Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus")
Namibia cricket team captain Gerhard Erasmus is eager to learn from the best. He may not yet be among the biggest names in world cricket, but he has certainly had his moments — like when he led his team to a stunning 55-run win over Sri Lanka in the preliminary stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Last year, however, things did not go as planned for Gerhard and his Namibia team in the T20 World Cup, as they ended the preliminary group stage round in fourth place in a five-team group, after a solitary win over Oman. It was a tough group consisting of Australia, England and Scotland, so it was well understood that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park.
Erasmus, though, got some recognition by winning the ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year award last year, having scored 364 runs from 12 ODIs and 363 runs from 13 T20Is. “Yeah, it’s great. It’s obviously lots of hard work and then at the end, you get a reward like that. Then it makes it very special. I think it’s this, this year’s one is very special because I sort of did it with a new skill, which is bowling,” Erasmus told Firstpost during an interview on the sidelines of the ILT20 tournament that concluded recently.
Consistency personified 🌟
— ICC (@ICC) January 26, 2025
For the second time, Namibia's talismanic captain, Gerhard Erasmus, is named ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year 🇳🇦 pic.twitter.com/ez9emZDupt
‘Try to implement some of Ashwin’s actions’: Erasmus
Coming back to Erasmus’ desire to learn from the best. The 29-year-old looks up to former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin and has even attempted to implement the legend’s actions in his bowling. It’s also relevant to note that both Erasmus and Ashwin are right-arm off-break bowlers. “Yeah, I’ve obviously watched him a lot, bowling off-spin in T20 cricket and with the new ball or be it in the middle. It’s been cool to like try and take some of his skills and implement them,” he said.
“You always learn from other players. I think that’s what a lot of cricketers do actually. And it’s one of the best coaching styles, learning from other players.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“And he obviously thinks about the game quite a lot. He’s quite smart, you know, almost like a cricket geek, which I am as well. So I’ve over the years tried to see a lot of what he does. He’s also a tall guy and yeah, so he’s different to maybe lots of other spinners that they’ve had in India. And therefore, I’ve looked a little bit around how he goes about his business, yes,” explained the 29-year-old.
Erasmus recalled the moment when he shook hands with the Tamil Nadu cricketer during the 2021 T20 World Cup clash between India and Namibia in Dubai. Ashwin took three wickets in the match which India won by nine wickets and one of his victims was Erasmus himself. The Namibian played with a broken finger during the tournament, where he scored 151 runs from eight matches.
“I think he’s smart. He watches a lot of cricket and reads about a lot of cricket. I got to know that when we played against them in the T20 World Cup in 2021, where after the game he shook my hand and said ‘well done’ for playing with a broken finger throughout the tournament.
“He had the time to come to me and say that. He was highly impressed by the fact that I would push through a broken finger to play for my country, you know, against fast bowlers and all of that,” he added.
Erasmus opens up on aspirations of playing in IPL
Erasmus played for the Gulf Giants in the ILT20 2025, scoring 213 runs from eight matches. The ILT20 in UAE and the Global T20 Canada are the only leagues that Erasmus has played in. However, the all-rounder hopes to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) one day.
“Yeah, most definitely. I think what’s nice for me is that I’ve played a couple of franchise leagues across the world now and as you go through, you sort of feel like you belong more on the biggest stage. So, you get that confidence that you can do it. I think in terms of the skills that I have at this moment, being a middle-order batter, I like to play against spin.
“I think the skills that I possess can definitely, you know, try and make a good shot for getting into the bigger leagues, especially on the subcontinent as well where the spinning conditions suits my skills. So yeah, I obviously love to, but I have to obviously put in the performances to get to that position,” the right-handed batter added.
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