Wife and kids helped me to stand – R Ashwin reveals how he played Sydney Test with injury
Despite suffering from the injury, R Ashwin had played a heroic inning both with the bat and ball at Sydney to save the game for India. He was India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the Test series with 12 wickets in three games.
R Ashwin was one of India’s best performers with both bat and ball during India’s historic Test series win in Australia in 2020-21. But one of his memorable contributions was with the bat when he made a solid partnership with Hanuma Vihari to guide India to draw the third Test in Sydney.
Both Ashwin and Vihari were struggling with the injuries during their time in the middle overs and were eventually ruled out of the last Test in Brisbane when India ultimately won.
A new web series is under process based on the performances in that Test match and speaking about the struggles, Ashwin revealed that he and Vihari faced a lot of troubles in that match.
“We both got comfortable the instant we went in. We realized 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 asked to miss the Gabba Test following an injury that he consumed in the third Test at Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite following an injury, Ashwin had a tremendous form with the bat as he saved the Test for India.
He ended with the second-highest wicket-taker in the series by picking up 12 wickets in three matches.
“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 I 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.
The all-rounder also praised the efforts of Australian skipper Pat Cummins who sent a lot of Indian players back to the pavilion in that 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.
India beat Australia at the Gabba and Brisbane to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 2-1.