"He sounded so broken" - R Ashwin's wife Prithi describes the episode of his mother's illness during Rajkot Test vs England

Ravichandran Ashwin's wife, Prithi Narayanan, recently talked about the harrowing episode of her mother-in-law's health emergency during the Rajkot Test against England where the spinner left in the middle of the game to be with his family.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Prithi said it all started soon after Ashwin took his 500th Test wicket. Their two daughters, Akhira and Aadhya, had just come back from school and seen their father achieve the massive milestone. Prithi and other members of the family were being flooded by congratulatory calls and messages.

"It was then that I heard a sudden scream from aunty as she collapsed, and in no time we were at the hospital," Prithi said. "At that point, we had decided not to tell Ashwin because there wasn’t good flight connectivity between Chennai and Rajkot."

Ashwin's long-term teammate Cheteshwar Pujara, who has family in Rajkot came to the rescue and so were the Indian team stakeholders.

"So I dialled Cheteshwar Pujara and his family were of great help," she said. "And once we found a way out, I called up Ashwin because after the scans, the doctor suggested it was better to have her son around. Over the phone, he sounded so broken and hung up. It took another 20-25 minutes to process what I told him and for him to call back. And thanks to Rohit (Sharma), Rahul bhai (Dravid) and the others in the team and the BCCI — who followed up all the way till he reached here — he got here late at night."

That day, Ashwin became only the second Indian after Anil Kumble to scalp 500 Test wickets.

"He would never leave a game like that" - Prithi on Ashwin's mental state at the time

The spinner left the team after play on Day 2 and returned on Day 4. Although his teammates stepped up their game and carried the team's charge forward in his absence, he picked up a wicket in the final innings to eventually help seal the massive 434-run victory.

"It was a very emotional moment for him to see his mom in the ICU. And after she stabilised, we asked him to rejoin the team. Given his personality, he would never leave a game like that. And he would have an extreme amount of guilt if he didn’t win the game for his team."

Prithi also said that in those 48 hours, she found that Ashwin's yearning for time with his parents had grown and became more evident.