Image Credit- AFP
Only the second Indian, and ninth overall, is R
Ashwin, who has already taken 500 wickets in Test cricket. After arriving in
Rajkot on the second day, the 37-year-old offspinner dismissed England’s Zak
Crawley in the last session. In his 98th Test, he became the second-fastest
bowler to accomplish the feat.
“I would like to dedicate this to my father, he’s responsible for
everything I’ve done in my life. He’s lived it through, had heart attacks every
time I’ve played. I think his health has gone for a toss because he’s watched
games of mine on TV and been a constant support for me,” Ashwin said in an
interview with the host broadcaster at the end of the day’s play. “I’m
sure he will be very happy today. But yeah, 500 wickets done and dusted now,
and we’ve got a game hanging in the balance.”
Ashwin’s journey has been one of ongoing
experimentation motivated by his desire to improve as a cricket player. He
stated that his “desire to excel” was what had remained constant when
asked what had not.
“The desire to excel hasn’t changed, wanting to keep on evolving as a
cricketer, that’s something that’s been organic to me right from my club
cricket days in Chennai,” he said. “Ever since I picked up the red
ball, the first question that hung in front of me was whether I was a good
enough red-ball bowler. A lot of people perceive that I’ve come through the IPL
but the hard yards I put in [in] club and first-class cricket in Chennai made a
lot of difference to me as a Test bowler.”
“It’s been a very long journey,” he said in
the press conference at the end of the day’s play. “I don’t exactly know
where to begin because I was an accidental spinner. I wanted to be a batter all
along. Life gave me a chance, and when I walked into the CSK dressing room,
Muthiah Muralidaran didn’t want to bowl with the new ball, and eventually I got
tossed the new ball. I had a reasonable first-class start to my life.
First-class career was pretty good, but nevertheless, the stage in the IPL made
me visible to a lot of people, and I eventually got my Test debut. People
doubted whether I could be a Test bowler, and yeah, 10-13 years later, not bad.
Not a bad achievement, so I’m pretty glad.”
“I’m really happy where I am in life. Forget it
as just being in cricket. [I get told] that you ‘intellectualise bowling’, or
whatever. I don’t know where that came from, but if that’s how people want to
perceive me, great. I mean, I’ve always fought a level of perception in my
life. About what people think of me, but definitely in the last six 5-6 years,
I’ve actually not cared about it. I can’t keep proving everybody wrong or I
can’t prove everybody right. Somebody is happy and somebody is not, but I need
to be happy.
“I am in a really, really good space in my life
and I want this to continue, and I don’t want to let go of the love for the
game. At one point in my life, I was in a really dark space, and I didn’t want
to watch the game, and that’s not where I want to go in my life ever again. I
am happy to watch the game: last night I watched Afghanistan-Sri Lanka play in
the third ODI highlights, I watched live New Zealand versus South Africa. So I
mean, this is who I want to be and I’m glad.”