After the Bangladesh Tour, R. Ashwin told his wife that the Australia Series could become my last
Ravichandran Ashwin is the number one test bowler in the world and has tormented batting attacks from all across the world, especially in red-ball cricket. But there was a phase in Ashwin's life where an injury forced him to think long and hard about his career. In fact, he had also told his wife, Prithi, that the home series against Australia could become his last.
Ashwin said, "I'm very proud of what I've done in my life, not just because of wickets or runs. But how consistently have I been able to reinvent myself? One thing that really plagues cricketers or anybody else as they grow older is insecurity. For me, it's how cricketers get locked up when they get older and when they get experienced; you want to hold on to something so tight that you eventually end up breaking your own neck."
Speaking about his knee issue, Ashwin said that he felt his career was going to end not long ago.
He said, "When I came back from Bangladesh, I told my wife that the Australia series could become my last series. I used to have some knee issues. I said I was going to change my action because it really got a lot of momentum, and with that, when I was landing, my knee was buckling a little bit. I hadn't done enough work because of the T20 World Cup, but I wasn't just not happy with the way the ball was coming; it was just scrambling a little bit here.
He further revealed that, "By the second test in Bangladesh, it started to hurt." It was really swelling up. So I'm just thinking, "Okay, how do I do this? Because I bowled really well for three or four years, right? To change my action, it's got to be the most stupid and ridiculous thing to do. So I came back and said, "Listen, there's a lot of load on the knee; it's time to change, and I'm going to go back to my action that used to bowl in 2013-14."
"So I went to Bangalore. I had to take an injection at that point in time, so I changed my action. I started bowling, and my knee pain went away. I practiced for three or four days in Nagpur, and I went into the Test match without having played a game with that action at all. On the first day of the Test, I didn't even feel like a bowler for three to four overs, but I was able to get on with it because of the awareness I have.
While concluding his statement, he further said, "And I am proud of the Player of the Series award. I think that is probably one of the best series I have had and the best bowling performance I have had in a series in the last four to five years. I have done a lot of good stuff in the last five years, but still, it felt like that. Looking back, I feel so proud of having done that at 36. If I can change my actions and put my career at stake, I don't think there can be a greater challenge in life. A lot of people tend to get insecure. They don't want to do something else and fail. It is very easy for me to play another four tests with the same action, maybe pick up 15 or 16 wickets, and not feel good about myself."