When Ravichandran Ashwin was selected in India's T20 World Cup 2022 squad, it raised a few eyebrows. Ashwin had not played many T20Is of late. But in the first T20I itself, Ashwin showed why he was there in the squad with his presence of mind in the high-voltage run chase against Pakistan. With two runs needed off the final ball, Ashwin walked out to bat. Mohammad Nawaz tried to cramp him for room and bowled one down the leg side but Ashwin stayed where he was and did not offer a shot. The ball went for a wide and Ashwin finished the run chase with a single off the final delivery. Days after his retirement, Ashwin revealed who ecstatic then head coach Rahul Dravid was and complimented him for remaining calm in a heart-pumping situation.
“I hadn’t realized what I had done. I came back into the dressing room 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," Ashwin said as quoted by The Indian Express.
"He (Dravid) came to me and said, ‘That’s why we had you in the squad! That’s the way you deal with this!” 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," he added.
Ashwin credits his 'gully cricket' skills for the iconic leave
Like many cricketers in the team, Ashwin grew up playing gully cricket. He explained why a certain restriction in the gully cricket led to him perfecting the art of leaving the balls on the leg side.
“For me, gully cricket’s a huge part of my life. Even very late, probably middle of my career, I was still playing gully cricket with my friends. It brought about a happiness that I don’t think I’ve encountered anywhere else in the world. Leaving a ball on the leg side is a crucial factor for us to get a free hit because all our games they have offside runs," the 38-year-old recalled.
"So it is very nearly about bowling underarm into your legs since you can’t score runs on legside. So the moment you have a ball down the legside, it’s very natural for me to just flick open my hips and leave that ball. Most people would say I spent midnight oil on that, to be able to leave that ball which is not the case,” the Tamil Nadu-born all-rounder concluded.