Ravichandran Ashwin made his exit from international cricket as a legendary all-rounder. The international cricket career of Ashwin pockets opened after the India-Australia Test series ended in a draw at Brisbane. The 38-year-old had uprooted 537 scalps already to emerge as the highest wicket-taker among active bowlers; many expected Ashwin to continue for some more time. But his decision has left the entire cricket fraternity and fans heartbroken. The ace all-rounder recently came onto a podcast and unfolded an unheard-about incident about him and the former head coach of India, Ravi Shastri.
Coming on to the Sky Sports podcast with former English skipper Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, Ashwin revealed an incident in the 2018 Test series between India and England, where he was at the receiving end of some tough criticism from Ravi Shastri.
India lost the 2018 series in England by 1-4. During that series, Ashwin happened to be a part of a show called “Masterclass” by a former England player, Ian Ward. Ashwin painted a picture of his bowling technique and variations and, of course, spoke about his most-followed carrom ball.
That did not go down well with Shastri, who later gave some “real pasting” to the all-rounder.
“I got a real pasting from Ravi Shastri for doing that masterclass. I’m sure you’ve heard about that from him. I think he had his point, but somehow inside me, I never felt insecure about it. I think there’s two things in the game, right?” said Ashwin speaking to Nasser and Atherton on Sky Sports.
“One is to get behind making what you have available, and the other is to be able to respond to what you throw down the other end, and I always believed, and had the courage to say, here is what I have to dish out,” he said.
Apart from that, Ashwin mentioned that he keeps on arguing with his own techniques and is very confident about his skills. “Let’s see if you’ve got it in you to come at me and very few times I found that the batters have not had the courage to come at me for that and I think it’s all it also plays a very deep mental game,” said Ashwin.
“Maybe it’s a battle I have in my own head but all that aside, I’m not a shy man at all when it comes to divulging what I have because for me, it was always when I shared that I found a question in me, so when I shared and I had this question, I had this unique ability to take that question on board and find answers for it, ” he said.
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