Tom Kohler-Cadmore reveals how family connection helped Ravichandran Ashwin relationship at IPL

The pair played together during the 2024 Indian Premier League, with the Somerset man making four appearances. Thrust into a new environment, it was immediately easier thanks to the India spinner

Ciaran McCarthy | 07/06/2024 at 10:00

Tom Kohler-Cadmore has revealed that his dad helped him to bed into the Rajasthan Royals dressing room via a prior connection with star man Ravichandran Ashwin.

Kohler-Cadmore played his first-ever IPL season in 2024, and became the first uncapped English player since Graham Napier in 2009 to feature in the competition.

Napier revealed to The Cricketer prior to this year's tournament that he felt his own lack of international cricket hindered his chances of playing regularly when he went to represent Mumbai Indians.

But Kohler-Cadmore played four games, returning scores of 20, 18 and 10 on the three occasions he batted.

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^{Tom Kohler-Cadmore played his first IPL season in 2024 (Biju Boro/Getty Images)}

Speaking on the Under The Lid - Inside Pro Cricket Podcast, a joint venture between the Professional Cricketers' Association and The Cricketer, he always believed his chance would come.

"It all played out exactly how they said it would play out from December," he said.

"They knew Jos [Buttler's] wife was expecting around that time [May], so he was always going to be leaving roughly when he did. So it was communicated to me the whole time - be ready for the back end. Kind of, you're not going to play unless there is an injury before the back end.

"It kept me going through the tournament, sometimes India can be a long time, hotel to hotel, touring, sat on the bench, thinking you're not going to play, whereas that kept me going 'right, I've got a good chance of playing here so I need to be ready.'"

By the time he did get on the park, the Somerset batter settled in well. Kohler-Cadmore had already played with and against a lot of the big-name players and had already struck up a relationship with Ashwin, the India spinner with 516 Test wickets.

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^{Ravichandran Ashwin knew Mick Cadmore before playing with his son, Tom}

"The only guys that I haven't [played with or against] was like, Ashwin - but my dad looked after him in Worcester," Kohler-Cadmore says.

"Big Mick was looking after him in Worcester, so I had a lot of comms, there was always kind of a way in, we had a mutual friend, obviously being my dad, so with him, it was very easy to get to know him and everyone else was great as well."

Kohler-Cadmore has previously attributed a lot of his early success to his dad, with Ashwin having praised him for helping him settle in his first overseas assignment in England at New Road.

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