Ravichandran Ashwin has shared that veteran batter Virat Kohli trained with the Indian team before their Test series opener against England in Hyderabad, which began on January 25. Ashwin also added that Kohli had joined the squad for the five-match Test series, but had to withdraw his name before the first fixture owing to personal reasons as well.
Speaking in his latest YouTube video, Ashwin said: “It was an open-net practice, and Virat Kohli was also there with us in practice. He left for personal reasons, as his family needed him, and suddenly we were left without Virat Kohli. Suddenly, on the day before the Test in practice, it felt like a ball hit my back on completing an action. My back strain on my mid-back was very bad. I had so many things to expect from this series. There are so many milestones awaiting. I haven’t thought about it much, but everybody in my surroundings was talking about 500 wickets and 100 tests.”
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“I just put the ball away and rested myself. That is why I put up an appreciation post for Kamlesh Jail, our physio, and Yogesh Parmar, A photo with him is still on the hunt; I couldn’t get it within yesterday. Along with Rajiv, our massage therapist, and Dayanand, another massage therapist, these people put so much effort behind the doors for my health,” the veteran further added.
However, R Ashwin further shared that the Test match in Hyderabad was like an away game for them because many of their players hadn’t played a Test at the venue before as well. He also shared that countries like England don’t face such problems in a home series, as they have fewer Test venues compared to India as well.
“The people on our own test team haven’t played a Test in Hyderabad. I don’t know if Rohit was part of the team when we played our previous matches in Hyderabad. So think about it: do you think there’s a chance for any of the English cricketers to have not played first-class cricket in their Test venues? It is impossible because there are only 7-8 Test venues in the country. India has so many Test venues in itself. So, this is almost an away match for half of our own team. When the foreign media talk about it, I really don’t know if they understand the magnitude of Indian cricket,” R Ashwin concluded.
