Veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin achieved a great feat in the first Test against West Indies where he took another fifer which was his 33rd in Test cricket as well. However, the top-ranked bowler couldn’t find a place in India’s playing XI. Since mid-2017, Ashwin has been mostly playing Tests for India (barring the brief comeback in 2021-22), but even his appearances in that format have been limited with Ravindra Jadeja, as he has evolved as a lower-order batter s well. Notably, India struggled in the World Test Championship final and eventually lost to Australia.
“I’ve spoken about it. It’s very tough as a cricketer when you have a WTC final and end up sitting out,” Ashwin said. “All that is fine. But what is the difference between me and another person if I also end up sulking in the dressing room. When we went to the WTC final, I was mentally prepared to play. I had prepared physically and mentally, planned for the game, everything. But, I was also prepared to not play the game.”
He continued: “If I’m not playing, how do I respond? How do I make sure the dressing room is really up and about. Winning the WTC final is the most important thing, it could be a very high point in my career and I would have played a good role in it. It was just unfortunate, it didn’t pan out. The first day just left us too much behind in the shed. All I’d like to give to my teammates and Indian cricket as a whole is some understanding and my best efforts on the field and I’d like to leave it at that.”
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Notably, he also joined a very exclusive list of bowlers – Ian Botham, Wasim Akram, Mitchell Starc and Simon Harmer – to dismiss both members of a father-son pair in Test cricket as well when he dismissed Tagenarine Chanderpaul. He then dismissed the captain Kraigg Brathwaite before Lunch and then removed top-scorer Alick Athanaze, Alzarri Joseph and Jomel Warrican to reach the milestone as well.
“There was some bounce from the wicket, especially from the pavilion end. The wicket had some slope also which gave us bounce. But we utilised the first session very well. The wicket had some moisture and it was coming off it very well. As you saw, they showed a graphic that it was turning more [in the second session], but the turn was very slow. But in the first session, there was bounce, and pace off was good, there was bite. We utilised it very well. The way [Jermaine] Blackwood got out just before Lunch, the momentum shifted completely to us. I also thought, Jaiswal and Rohit batted very well to give us a very dominant day on Day 1,” R Ashwin said.
However, with the five-fer. he went past James Anderson in the list of cricketers with the most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket. Rangana Herath (34), Anil Kumble (35), Richard Hadlee (36) and Shane Warne (37) sit immediately above him while Muttiah Muralitharan remains at the top with 67. And, Ashwin also became only the third Indian bowler, after Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, to take 700 international wickets as well.
“There is no cricketer or human being in this world that has gone through the highs without the lows,” R Ashwin added. “When you have the lows, it gives you two choices, either you sulk or talk about it and then complain about it and go along with it and go down. Or you learn from it. So I’m someone who’s constantly learnt from my lows.
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“In fact the best thing that’ll happen today after this good day that I’ve had is that I’ll have a good meal, have a good conversation, talk to my family and go to bed and then forget about it. When you’ve had a good day, you know you’ve had a good day but there are areas you can work on and get better for tomorrow. This constant search for excellence has held me in good stead all the time, but it’s also been incredibly draining. It’s not a journey that’s been very easy. For me, the journey has been draining, but I’m very thankful for all the lows because without the lows there are no highs,” he stated.
“Actually when I look back at my career, I wonder how it’s gone by so fast. It’s been literally 14 years on the go and if you include IPL also, it’s been almost a 15-16 years journey. It’s just gone like that. All I would tell anybody is… the first time I met Rahul Dravid as a coach, he made this statement: ‘It’s not about how many wickets you take, how many runs you score. You’ll forget about all of them. It is only the great memories you create as a team that’ll stick with you.’ I’m totally behind that. I don’t know if he’s brainwashed me to do that. From my point of view, I definitely think that this journey has gone so fast that I’m not even able to recollect what has happened, and how it has gone through. I’ve got a lot of gratitude and I’m very grateful for the journey and what the game has given to me. I don’t know how many more such moments will come to me, but whatever comes my way, I’ll try to enjoy it completely. After Covid when cricket began again, I promised myself that I’ll enjoy whatever happens… whether I’m playing, getting dropped or if I’m retiring. Whatever happens, I will enjoy it,” R Ashwin concluded.
