Ravichandran Ashwin was one of India’s best players with the ball in the team’s historic 2020-21 win over Australia. But one of his most telling contributions during the series came with the bat as he tied together a crucial undefeated partnership with Hanuma Vihari to lead India to a draw in the third Test match in Sydney. Both Ashwin and Vihari struggled with injury during their time at center and were eventually ruled out of the final Test in Brisbane, which India won.
Now a new web series is being released about that amazing victory. During the launch, Ashwin provided insight into the struggles he and Vihari were going through.
“We both felt comfortable the moment we went in. We realized what problem we had, he couldn’t come forward and go on the back foot. He was struggling with a hamstring injury. When I went to the crease, I couldn’t advance against the fast bowlers, so in that situation I said we’ll rotate and see how this will work,” Ashwin told ANI.
“After sometimes he faced the fast bowlers and I faced the spinners. And with that we hit a few overs. There was solid communication between him and me, we helped each other,” he added.
Ashwin was forced to miss the Gabba test after sustaining a back injury during 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 matches.
“It was surprising to me that after the injury I went bowling with painkillers. And 13 or 14 bowled at a trot. It was so bad I rolled on the floor in pain. My wife and kids helped me get up and then the physio came to check on me. I went to the game crawling, but did my best,” he said.
Allrounder also praised star pacer of Australian cricket team Pat Cummins, who sent many great Indian players back into the hut in the series.
“Pat Cummins looked like a very special bowler. And he bowled at the top of his game. And it was quite difficult to bat against him. Mitchell Starc is fast, but Pat seems to be 5km faster than him. This is the feeling… you know it can’t really be explained,” he said.
promoted
Team India defeated Australia in Gabba and Brisbane to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1.
(with ANI inputs)
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