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Ashwin recalls his innings against Pakistan when walked into bat with India needing two runs off the last ball to win in the T20 World Cup.
Ravichandran Ashwin. (Picture Credit: Sportzpics)
Legendary Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin demonstrated his batting prowess on many occasions during his illustrious international career. One such match-defining performance came against Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Ashwin, who recently announced his retirement, reminisced about that memorable outing during an interaction with Sky Sports Cricket. When Ashwin walked into the crease, India needed two runs off the last ball to win the Super 12 clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Pakistan’s Mohammad Nawaz bowled a full-length delivery which Ashwin could have played down the leg side. He, however, held his composure and smartly left the ball for a wide. Ashwin pushed the next delivery to mid-off for a single as India won the important fixture by four wickets. During the recent interview, Ashwin shared how the then-head coach Rahul Dravid reacted after they met in the dressing room.
“I hadn’t realised what I had done. I came back and I haven’t seen Rahul Dravid exult like that – I mean, the second time I saw him exult was after the T20 World Cup, which we won recently. Until this moment, I hadn’t seen him exult. He came to me and said, ‘That’s why we had you in the squad! That’s the way you deal with this’,” the 38-year-old Ashwin told former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain.
Ashwin further opened up about Virat Kohli’s immediate reaction to his leave. When India lost their eight wickets, Kohli had been unbeaten at the non-striker’s end. He built the foundation for the chase with an 82-run knock featuring six boundaries and four maximums. After Nawaz bowled the wide, Kohli was visibly impressed by Ashwin’s decision.
“I didn’t quite honestly realise the magnitude of what that moment meant. I just saw the ball, and just let it go. Then it hit Rizwan and came back. I think Virat was almost celebrating. He just used his hand to say who the hell leaves a ball like that,” Ashwin recalled.
Coming to chase 160 runs, India had lost four wickets at the score of 31. That’s when Kohli revived the innings, stitching a 113-run partnership with Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder registered 40 runs off 37 deliveries, hitting two sixes and a four.
