India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Rohit Sharma’s leadership after the conclusion of the five-match Test series against England, which the hosts won by 4-1. Ashwin lauded Sharma for not only his on-field leadership but also his off-field gesture.
In the fourth Test match at Ranchi, Ashwin had to go back to see his ill mother. The game was in the balance with Ben Duckett playing an aggressive knock for England. The visitors were 207-2 but Ashwin revealed how Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara helped him get a charted flight to his home.
Ashwin revealed Rohit even asked the team’s physio Kamlesh to accompany the off-spinner.
Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “I was informed much earlier that I had to give an interview on JioCinema (official broadcaster) after my milestone of reaching 500 wickets. When we were talking, they played a recorded video of my father. After my father, my mother spoke but I couldn’t hear clearly. After that I did the press conference. The match was in a precarious situation, England were 200/2 (207), Ben Duckett was playing high-risk shots at will. I thought I had him out but the ball pitched outside leg stump by millimetres. So I was determined to put in the effort the next day. I remember I said in the press conference that the game was hanging in the balance.
“After that I went to the dressing room, the usual debrief happened, Rohit and I spoke for some time about the match and then I went to my room. I was wondering why I didn’t receive any calls from my parents or my wife. I thought maybe they were giving interviews, others were maybe wishing them, and they’ll be busy with that. I called my wife around 7 PM, my wife’s voice didn’t sound too good, and she asked me to come separately to speak. She told me my mother had collapsed after a splitting headache.
“I went blank. I didn’t know how to react. I went to my room and cried along for some time. I didn’t pick up the phone and I suppose she called my team physio to check on me. Rohit and Rahu Dravid were probably informed and both of them came to the room. I didn’t know what to do. ‘I’m part of the eleven and the game is in balance. The team will become 10 if I leave, they (England) had a slight upper hand, they had given a good fight…,’ I had thousands of thoughts running through my mind. At the same time I was thinking of when I last spoke to my mother. I had almost made up my mind to leave.
“After all that, I started searching for flights but I couldn’t find one. Rohit told me ‘don’t think about anything, leave immediately, I’ll try to arrange a charter flight for you’. A big thank you to Cheteshwar Pujara. He somehow got a flight from Ahmedabad, got it chartered, I don’t know how those two hours went on the flight. And then what Rohit did…he asked Kamlesh (physio) to leave with me. With the team having only two physios, I asked Kamlesh to stay back. When I went down, the security and Kamlesh were waiting to take me. Rohit calls Kamlesh and tells him ‘stay with Ashwin, comfort him, take care of him’.
“It was 9:30 PM. I was gobsmacked. Even if I was the captain and if something like this happened to the player, I would have definitely asked the player to go. But enquiring about him, asking someone to go with him…unbelievable. I’m seeing an outstanding leader in Rohit. I can’t express this, I’ve played with a lot of captains over the years, but there is something about Rohit. His good heart is the reason he has been able to win five IPL titles, equal to Dhoni. God won’t give things like these easily, I just hope god gives him something big. Thinking about another person, understanding the troubles and taking care of that…it’s a rarity to find a person like this in a selfish world.”
Ashwin was able to rejoin the team on the fourth day’s play after his mother told him to return back to action. The offf-spinner ended as the leading wicket-taker of the series against England, bagging a total of 26 wickets in five Test matches at an average of 24.81.
The veteran spinner will be next seen in action in the IPL while playing for Rajasthan Royals.
