Follow Us“When I saw Virat Kohli's ball went up in the air, I ran outside the dressing room. I literally ran outside the dressing room, I was like thinking wake me up when it's all over.”
R Ashwin was like any other Indian fan here. As Virat Kohli miscued that pull and the ball went up in the night sky, heartbeats would have stopped with the impending doom coming closer as the ball reached the ground. However, the end wasn’t as everyone anticipated. Mitch Marsh dropped the catch.
“I ran back into the dressing room, and the crowd erupted. I stayed in the same place for the entire game. My legs are paining now actually,” Ashwin said to the official broadcasters with a big smile.
Most people watching the game could relate to this sentiment, as in a dire situation, logic and reason are subsumed by fear, which gives rise to superstition. But as the cliche goes, all’s well that ends well.
Apart from this interesting anecdote, Ashwin talked about how he wasn’t expecting to be a part of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at all.
“It was more like a May day call, I was chilling at home, played a couple of club games but Rohit and Rahul [Dravid] had told me that if there is a situation we will come back to you, I just told them jokingly that hope you never come back to me,” he said, finishing the sentence with laughter.
He also acknowledged how the pitch at Chepauk today was “quite unlike Chennai pitch, with lots of cracks.” Talking about adjusting to the pace of the pitch, he said, “It's more than the pace. It's difficult for the bowlers to bowl at a particular speed. It's about getting the sidespin and overspin right, getting my body into position - all of these things. It's about getting that right for me. For me, it usually takes about 6-8 balls to get that right.”
Ashwin definitely got it right as he bowled a miserly spell of 10 overs, giving only 34 runs and picking up Cameron Green’s wicket. He will be crucial once again against Afghanistan, as India face them next on the 11th of October in Delhi.