Who Is Adithya Ashok: Vellore-Born Rajnikanth Fan Playing For New Zealand Against India

Indian-origin leg-spinner Adithya Ashok was named in the New Zealand XI for the first ODI against India in Vadodara on Sunday. Born in Vellore, Ashok lived in India until the age of four before his parents moved to Auckland for better career prospects. He rose through the ranks of Auckland's domestic system, eventually representing New Zealand in the 2020 U-19 World Cup. After making his professional T20 debut for Auckland in December 2021, Ashok quickly became a regular across all formats. His breakthrough season came in 2022-23, when he was honoured as New Zealand's Young Cricketer of the Year.

International Career

Ashok received his maiden international call-up for the tour of the United Arab Emirates, where he appeared in a T20I. A few months later, he made his ODI debut against Bangladesh. However, a back injury soon followed, forcing him to remain sidelined for a significant period. To date, he has claimed two wickets in his three international appearances.

The Rajinikanth Connection

A massive fan of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, Ashok has a tattoo on his bowling arm that reads "En vazhi thani vazhi" (My way is a unique way) in Tamil. The phrase is an iconic dialogue from the movie Padayappa and holds deep personal significance as it was the last film he watched with his late grandfather. Preparing for this subcontinental tour, Ashok notably spent several weeks training at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) academy in 2025.

India: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), KL Rahul (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay (WK), Michael Bracewell (C), Zakary Foulkes, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Adithya Ashok.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Adithya Ashok India vs New Zealand 2026 Cricket