India's top spinner R Ashwin on Friday shared his thoughts as he gears up for a busy 10-Test season ahead. India is scheduled to play two Tests against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand at home. This will be followed by the key five-Test series in Australia, the team's first since 1992. It will also mark the first time the Indian team has played Test cricket under the leadership of their new head coach, Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid after India's recent T20 World Cup victory. Under him, India swept the T20I series in Sri Lanka 3-0 but lost the ODI series 2-0 in his first assignment as head coach. Ravichandran Ashwin shared his views on Gautam Gambhir, saying they played a lot together and he looks up to Gambhir as one of the "heroes" of Indian cricket. Ashwin said: “Gautam is someone I still share a very, very good relationship with. Because he is a very straightforward and honest guy. I think Gautam is also one of those guys that we should always be backing. He’s a hero of Indian cricket.” Even some of the best players in the world have struggled to pick Ashwin's own famous 'carrom ball'. Ashwin first saw Ajantha Mendis bowl it at a camp in Chennai, but took almost three years for him to feel confident about executing it. For those who may not know, the carrom ball is a delivery that turns in opposite directions and is bowled by flicking the middle finger. For a right-handed batter, it turns away from the bat. Ashwin revealed: “I started bowling those balls in the nets in 2006 or 2007 onwards, which was probably the second season for me in first-class cricket. It took me a good two years before I implemented it in the south zone leg matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (KS Subbaiah Pillai Trophy) in 2008. By 2010, I was probably pretty confident about the pace at which I bowled. So, it took about two to three years for me to gain confidence.” R Ashwin has also gone on to say that youngsters get swayed by the glamour of the IPL, and one should always play for India. Ravichandran Ashwin concluded by saying: "I am very glad that a lot of young kids are coming now and making a good amount of money. It is changing their livelihood, changing the status of their families. It’s unbelievable for India, for the Indian cricketing ecosystem. But I still feel there must be some incentive and some motivation for all these kids to want to play for India, and that’s absolutely in the hands of the stakeholders and the decision-makers." Also Read | 5 Actors Who Could Play Yuvraj Singh in His Biopic