“His international career is done, he is finished” - Ravichandran Ashwin discloses how he fought back after being written off 

Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that he heard statements like "this guy in finished" while playing club games in Chennai during his down phase. He, however, asserted that he was keen to battle his way back and focused harder on fitness to deal with injury issues.

Ashwin ends 2021 as the leading wicket-taker in Tests with 54 scalps at an average of 16.64 in nine games. However, his international career seemed at a crossroad a couple of years back when he was dealing with fitness and injury issues.

Asked how he overcame the challenging times and criticism that he was constantly subjected to, Ashwin said during an interaction on the chat show "Backstage with Boria":

“As a sportsman, you are engulfed by criticism. You want to overcome that. A lot of people wrote me off. I used to walk into club games in Chennai and I used to put in the hard yards. And I would hear murmurs about people saying ‘this guy is coming and playing because his international career is done, he is finished’. I used to keep hearing these things. Sometimes it’s easy to laugh off, sometimes it hurts.”

The 35-year-old admitted that he placed greater emphasis on fitness and diet as he worked towards making a comeback. Ashwin revealed:

“I used to wake up during the pandemic every single day telling myself - it doesn’t matter what people think, but this particular cricketer, this particular character has has something left. And, this is not how I want to leave. It used to be a hard battle. I used to train twice in a day. I reviewed over 3-10 dietitians. I am definitely eating better, training better and more positive inside my head.”

Not only did Ashwin have a memorable 2021 in Test matches. He even made an impressive comeback to the white-ball squad after four years during the T20 World Cup.

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“He gave everything away” - Ravichandran Ashwin hails father’s sacrifice

During the first half of IPL 2021, Ashwin had to quit the tournament midway after his family was infected by COVID-19. The 35-year-old explained his decision, considering the sacrifices his parents made for him.

Recalling an anecdote about his father, Ashwin said:

“At the age of 12, we were going to play a league game. These hanging rope balls used to be there. I played a pull shot inspired by Ricky Ponting (at home). The ball hit the fridge and ricocheted. I finished my pull shot and the bat hit my father flush on the nose. He started bleeding profusely, my bat was full of blood."

The cricketer added that his father sank like a sack of potatoes. Revealing further details of the incident, the off-spinner revealed:

“He went straight to the hospital and stitched his nose up. He came back, picked up my kit bag, and took me to the game 20 kms from the house. He had opportunities to go for promotion. He gave everything away, just because he wanted his son to wear the India colors, may be, one day.”

An emotional Ashwhin signed off saying:

“He was in the ICU, I don’t need to explain why I needed to go back (from IPL). If those were his last days and if I hadn’t gone back home and I couldn’t see him, why am I even a son? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Ashwin is currently with the Indian Test team in South Africa. He is on the verge of a major landmark, needing only six wickets to go past Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 Test scalps.