T20 World Cup 2021: "Had some special dreams getting into the World Cup" - Ravichandran Ashwin

Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has admitted that he had visions of achieving something special for the team after being selected in the T20 World Cup 2021 squad. Conceding that he was feeling a bit low after the first two losses, he asserted that the team has their fingers crossed after the Afghanistan win.

After going down to Pakistan and New Zealand, India defeated Afghanistan by 66 runs on Wednesday to keep their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive. The match against Afghanistan also marked Ashwin’s comeback to international white-ball cricket after a gap of four years.

Asked about the feeling of playing a limited-overs game for India after such a long gap, Ashwin said at a press conference:

“The news that I got selected for the World Cup was very heartening. I had fun after hearing the news in terms of enjoying myself and gratification of what I wanted to achieve. That was one side of it. I had some special dreams getting into the World Cup, wanting to do special things for the team. After a point of time, more than trying to prove anybody else right or wrong it is about trying to prove it to yourself and also having something to achieve for the team.”

Ashwin added that while he was disappointed after India’s two losses, the game against Afghanistan was special for him as he could execute his plans to near perfection. The 35-year-old stated:

“Unfortunately, after the first two losses, I did feel a bit low about it. It is never a special feeling to lose games. Maybe the chance of qualification took a bit of a dent. But after yesterday’s win, we still have our fingers crossed and hope things go right. Barring that, it was a special night. Every single delivery that I wanted to execute fell in place.”

Ashwin finished the match with figures of 2 for 14, dismissing Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran.

“That’s a pattern I have embraced in my life” - Ashwin on warming the bench for long periods

Despite being a proven performer, Ashwin has often had to sit out of the Indian playing XI. He did not feature in a single Test match in England and was not picked for the first two matches of the T20 World Cup 2021 either.

On how he deals with the disappointment of not being picked so often owing to team combination factors, the seasoned off-spinner had a philosophical response. Ashwin asserted:

“I believe life is a circle. For some people it is a small one, for some it is a large one, which is definitely not in our hands. For me, understanding patterns in my life and career has been something that I have done very well over the last couple of years. Whenever I have had a stretched pattern of good form, I have also had some deep trenches to go with some long periods of lull. I don’t want to read too much into it but definitely that’s a pattern I have embraced in my life. The easiest way to cope up with it is to keep preparing and working really hard.”

India will face Scotland in their next Super 12 encounter of the T20 World Cup 2021 on Friday in Dubai.

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