Excited Ashwin Recalls His Favorite Memories Of 'Picturesque Lord's' Ahead Of The 2nd Test

Champion Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is hugely excited about the upcoming Test match against England at the picturesque Lord’s.

Ashwin was benched in the first Test as India went with four seamers and one spinner but with Shardul Thakur injured and Lord’s expected to be sunny and dry, the ace off-spinner has more than a decent chance of making it to the playing XI for the second Test.

Ashwin, on the eve of the Test match, recounted memories of the triumphs that Team India have pulled off at a place that he described as very special to him.

On a green mamba, India pulled off one of their greatest overseas triumphs in 2014 thanks to brilliant knocks from Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and outstanding seam and swing bowling by Bhuvi and some chin music by Ishant.

“Whenever you come to Lord’s it’s more of a picturesque occasion. This is a very special for me to have come. We had a very memorable Test match here in 2014, England were cock-a-hoop and we drew the first Test, came here to a wonderful hundred by Ajinkya Rahane and that’s a memory were we bowled short at them and got the victory,” said Ashwin in a video shared by BCCI Twitter handle.

That said, India suffered a humiliating defeat during their last visit to Lord’s in 2018 where their batting unit fell away like a heap of cards in extremely challenging conditions.

However, with the English side in disarray and India dominating a major portion of the Nottingham Test, Ashwin is confident that Team India can pull off another heist this year and possibly win the Test series in England after 14 years.

“Hopefully, this time we have got the side and we have a really upbeat mood inside the dressing room so I think this will be a very good Test match,”  Ashwin said on bcci.tv.

Ashwin recalls Natwest 2002 triumph

But, for him, the moment that set Indian cricket on the path of excellence was the 2002 NatWest triumph and the subsequent removal of the shirt by captain Sourav Ganguly in response to what Andrew Flintoff had done in Mumbai a few months before that game.

“My fondest memory, I told about the 2014 victory. I wasn’t born when Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup on that balcony, has to go down as one of the greatest memories in Indian cricket but beyond that… The moment which set Indian cricket on the path of excellence I would say was Dada removing his shirt and waving it around on that balcony,” recalled Ashwin.

“Immediately a lot of commentators started talking about what Andrew Flintoff did in India and how Sourav Ganguly paid back in kind,” he said.

Ashwin signed off by stating that he is looking forward to a wonderful Test series which gives this Indian team a golden chance to become to the first group of players from the country to win a Test series in Australia and England.

“I am personally looking forward to a wonderful Test series where this Indian team could achieve something great in terms of having won in Australia and also having a chance of winning here in England,” Ashwin concluded.

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