The New Zealand series had ended, and R Ashwin and I were having a conversation. The team was to leave for Australia a day later, and all of a sudden he said to me, “It is time to think. I want to bow out on my terms. It has always been about the team for me. I will never want to be just a passenger.”
The words took time to sink in. Here was one of India’s greatest match-winners speaking. He had a modest series against New Zealand, yes, but just weeks earlier, he had scored a hundred and helped India beat Bangladesh. Here was someone who has lived for the sport, and seen nothing beyond it. For him to say what he did meant a lot. My takeaway was that Ashwin loved the Indian team much more than he loved his own achievements. He could have easily played on for a year or two, beaten teams at home on good pitches, and called it a day. But then, that’s not him. He did call it on his own terms, and will forever be remembered for it.
It is known that Ashwin is a very good reader of the game. That he overthinks at times. But more than all of that, it is his love for the game that defines Ashwin. Even if you called him at midnight and asked him for a game of cricket, he would perhaps say yes. And God forbid you happen to beat him, he would be on your case till the time he had avenged the defeat. Obsessively competitive and ruthlessly determined, Ashwin is a phenomenon. A rare one and perhaps the only one of its kind.
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On home soil, he has won India more Test matches than any other player. And when you add the number of times he has saved the team with the bat, you realise he has not always been celebrated enough as an all-rounder. Again, it boils down to self-belief. The moment Ashwin is pitted against an adversary who is good enough to beat him, the best comes out of him.
Ashwin v Steve Smith is the classic example. Ahead of the 2021 series, by his own admission, Ashwin was obsessed with Steve Smith. “I knew we had to get Smith out to be able to beat Australia,” he once told me. “And yes, I was obsessed with him. I had to get into his mind and understand what he could do against me. Think through his every strategy against and be a step ahead.” The truth was, he did, even getting the better of Smith in his own backyard.
He just loves cricket and loves to play it as much. Maybe that’s why he had said to me once, “If I die playing cricket I wouldn’t mind. I will do everything I can to play the game for India. That’s the only thing I have wanted to do. And I am fortunate that I have got the opportunity. You will always see me give more than my best. Yes, I will fail. In sport, you have to fail. But effort, that’s where you will see I will never back down.”
I will miss seeing him. India will. Go well.
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