Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that the fact nobody gave India a chance after they got bowled out for 36 in the Adelaide test on the Australia tour last year, considering that the Indian captain Virat Kohli was returning home immediately after the game, it motivated the whole team to produce an inspirational performance and as it turned out, they ended up winning the series from an almost down-and-out situation.
According to Ashwin, superstardom matters a lot in Indian cricket, and it was because of the superstardom that the team was written off after their dismal show in the first test. It was perceived as if everything was over because one player was returning home, and it was not the fault of that one player, it was just because of the perception that people came to the conclusion the test series was done and dusted.
Ravichandran Ashwin stressed the point that there were players in the squad who had won India games in the past, whether it’s Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah or he himself, but nobody was even talking about the other players, all the talks were about the return of one player.
Ashwin said when he saw nobody giving India a chance because of the return of the Indian captain back home, he pulled his socks up and told himself he had won games for his country in the past, there is no reason why he couldn’t do it again and there is no reason why the other match-winners in the squad couldn’t win games for India going ahead in the series.
Ravichandran Ashwin was not sure he would play all four test matches on the Australia tour
As the series went on, India lost more players to injury, Ashwin himself got injured and India had to play with a couple of net bowlers in the last test match at Gabba, but the visitors still pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of test cricket to win the series 2-1, after being bundled out at their lowest ever test score in the first game of the series.
“Who said there is Pujara, there is Rahane, there is Bumrah, there is Ashwin. Who said that? Nobody,” Ravichandran Ashwin said in an exclusive interview with ESPNcricinfo.
Opening up further in the interview, Ashwin talked about his preparations ahead of the series and said although he had spent weeks preparing for the series, he was not even sure he would get to play the first test. However, he was ready to grab his opportunity whenever he was going to get one. The fact that he got an opportunity straight away because of Jadeja’s injury set the ball rolling for him.
