Between 2018 And 2020, I Contemplated Giving Up At Various Points - Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that he had considered retiring from international cricket due to a problem with his body as well as being underestimated in the team despite consistent match-winning performances.

There was a point in Ashwin’s career where he could not bowl more than six balls at a stretch. He opened up about the two conditions he had – athletic pubalgia and patellar tendonitis – which made him lose his breath after bowling just one over.

“Between 2018 and 2020, I contemplated giving up the sport at various points. I thought, ‘I have put in a lot of effort, but it is not coming through.’ The harder I tried, the farther it felt. Especially with athletic pubalgia and the patellar tendonitis – I used to bowl six balls and then I used to be gasping for breath. And there would be pain all over the place. So you needed to make adjustments.“

“When the knee pain got excruciating, the next ball I would probably jump less. When I jumped less, obviously the force needs to be produced through the core and the back and the shoulders, so the pubalgia would act up. So the third ball I would be extra side-on to try to use the hips. By the time I was done with six balls, I would be like, ‘I need a break here’,” Ashwin was quoted as saying to The Cricket Monthly.

A lot of people were backed, why not me? – Ravichandran Ashwin on how he felt in 2018

In the same year, Ashwin also had a tough time where he was not part of the white-ball team anymore as youngsters had come through who grabbed their opportunities. The Test format was Ashwin’s saving grace but the 35-year-old felt he didn’t receive support from the management during tough times.

“I contemplated retirement for a lot of reasons. I felt like people were not sensitive enough to my injuries. I felt like a lot of people were backed, why not me? I have done no less. I have won a lot of games for the team, and I am not feeling backed.”

“I don’t usually look for help, that somebody needs to back me, that somebody needs to cushion me or give me empathy. I felt I was not being able to be excellent and felt I needed a shoulder to lean on. It was not happening. I thought maybe I should try to find something else and be excellent at that,” Ashwin added.

After the England series in 2018, India travelled to Australia where Ashwin yet again sustained an injury. He ran out of patience but his father insisted that he will make a strong comeback after recovery.

“Just after the England series in 2018, after Southampton, was one phase. Again in Australia later that year where I tore my abdomen after the Adelaide Test, before and after Sydney. Many stages. The only person I would be talking to was my wife. But my father was hell-bent: you will make a comeback in white-ball cricket, and I will see that before I die. For him it was more personal,” Ashwin revealed.

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