"Wife And Kids Helped Me To Stand": Ravichandran Ashwin Opens Up On Playing vs Australia In Sydney Test Despite Injury
Despite the injury, Ashwin had played a heroic inning with the bat to save the game for India. He was India's second-highest wicket-taker in the series with 12 wickets in three games.
Ravichandran Ashwin was one of India's best performers with the ball during the team's historic series win in Australia in 2020-21. But one of his most telling contributions during the series came with the bat as he strung together a crucial unbeaten partnership with Hanuma Vihari to guide India to a draw in the third Test match in Sydney. Both Ashwin and Vihari were struggling with injury during their time in the middle and were eventually ruled out of the last Test in Brisbane, which India went on to win.
Now, a new web series is going to be released on that great win. Speaking during its launch Ashwin gave an insight into the struggles that both he and Vihari went through.
"We both got comfortable the instant we went in. We realised what problem we had, he could not come forward and be going on the backfoot. He was struggling from the hamstring injury. When I went to the crease I could not go forward against the fast bowlers. So in that situation, I said we will rotate and see how this will work," Ashwin told ANI.
"After sometimes he was facing the fast bowlers and I was facing the spinners. And with that, we batted for a couple of overs. There was solid communication between him and me we were helping each other out," he added.
Ashwin was forced to miss the Gabba Test after suffering a back injury in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite the injury, Ashwin had played a heroic inning with the bat to save the game for India. He was India's second-highest wicket-taker in the series with 12 wickets in three games.
"It was surprising to me that I went bowling after the injury with painkillers. And bowled 13 or 14 over on the trot. It was so bad IÂ was rolling on the floor because of the pain. My wife and kids helped me to stand and then the Physio came to check me. I went to the game crawling, but did my best," he said.
All-rounder also praised star pacer of the Australian cricket team Pat Cummins, who sent many major Indian players back into the hut in the series.
"Pat Cummins looked like a really special bowler. And he was bowling at the top of his game. And was quite hard to bat against him. Mitchell Starc is quick but Pat seems he is 5 km quicker than him. These are the feeling... you know cannot be truly explained," he said.
Team India defeated Australia at Gabba and Brisbane to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 2-1.
(With ANI inputs)
Ravichandran Ashwin
Rishabh Pant