Hailing from the village of Naichanpur, about three hours from Kolkata, Ashok Dinda was spotted by a coach in Kolkata after bowling a few overs in the nets. The coach, Atal Dev Burman, asked him to stay back and hone his talents. After a stint with Kalighat club and the Australian Institute of Sport, Dinda made his first-class debut for Bengal in the 2005-06 season. He was a regular member of the side that reached the final of the Ranji Trophy the next season, although his performance with the ball wasn't that impressive, with 16 wickets in eight matches at 54.56. He was a late addition to the Kolkata Knight Riders' squad for the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League in 2008, and shone in the league opener in Bangalore. In September he was awarded a place in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy - a match meant to include Test probables for the Australia series, the following month. His first India call-up was for the Twenty20s against Sri Lanka in 2009 and his maiden international wicket was that of Sanath Jayasuriya. He was selected for the Indian Twenty20 and ODI squads for the tour of Zimbabwe, when the selectors decided to rest several senior players.