‘I wouldn’t be batting at no.8’ – Star India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recalls India’s historic win against Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2022

After facing a humiliating defeat against Australia in the World Test Championship finals, the Indian team is now set to take on the West Indies. Ahead of the upcoming ODI World Cup, India will look to give their preparations the final touch. The Indian team and fans are eagerly waiting to end the drought of trophies in Multinational tournaments.

In the last 10 years, India has come close to the cup on various occasions but eventually failed to hold its nerve in a crunch situation. The same happened against England last year when the team lost the T20 World Cup semifinals by 10 wickets. Despite their semi-final exit, India had enough positives, particularly Virat Kohli’s revival. Kohli’s unbeatable half-century against Pakistan in the tournament opener was something to be remembered.

Kohli scored an unbeatable 82 runs to pull off an unbelievable victory against the arch-rivals. Now, one year later, Star India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recalled the moment and spoke about his feelings while facing the final ball of the game. “I was cursing Dinesh Karthik for asking me to do the tougher job. As I was just cursing him when I walked in, I realised the enormity of what I was getting into. People were yelling, I haven’t seen such a crowd ever.”

“Virat just gave me like seven options to play off that one ball. If only I were that capable of playing all those shots, I wouldn’t be batting at No. 8. I just talked to myself; I couldn’t say that to him. When I looked at Virat, and his eyes seemed like he was possessed. I said, Okay, he’s on another planet, and let me come back to Earth. The moment he bowled wide, I knew I had won the contest.

“The game was meant to be finished by me”, says Ashwin.

“I think cricket, in so many ways, is going to give you a lot of messages that way. So that’s where I got my positivity from. I knew I’d won the game. I think about it every night when I go to sleep. To be honest, every time I see the video on social media, I think about it: what if the ball had just gripped and hit my pad? It was pretty close for comfort. I just felt that the game was meant to be finished by me. That’s how I felt honestly—terrific innings by Virat and one of the better games I’ve watched and been a part of,” Ravichandran Ashwin further added.

It’s worth noting that India finished second in the group and faced England in the semifinals. However, things didn’t work in favour of the Indian team as the English opener thrashed the men in blue by 10 wickets. For India, Virat Kohli was the biggest positive, as he finished as the tournament’s highest run scorer. He scored 296 runs in six matches at an average of 98.66.