Ravichandran Ashwin has been a vital part of the Indian Test setup for years now. He has been in great form recently and made another record in the first Test match against Sri Lanka. The off-spinner took his 435th Test wicket to go past Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 dismissals to become India’s second-highest wicket-taker of all time in Test cricket.
In totality, he took six wickets in the match while also scoring 61 runs in the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Mohali. It was a great Test match for the all-rounder as he contributed with bat and ball.
He received praise from the entire cricket fraternity and the Indian captain did not stay behind either. In his post-match conference, Rohit Sharma termed Ashwin as an “All-time great”.
Speaking to BCCI, Ashwin revealed that he ‘didn’t know how to react’ to the captain’s praise. He revealed that he does not react to all the compliments.
“I don’t know what to tell Rohit. I am very bad at receiving compliments. I don’t really know how to react. Sometimes I can get emotional but I cannot really coin those words when I am emotional,” he added. Ashwin deserves all the praise as he has earned it with his hard work and skill.
“Rohit went out into the press conference and lavished praise on me and I didn’t really know how to react until this morning. At the breakfast hall I said that was very sweet of him”, Ashwin said. The captain praising a player is always a special feeling and the off-spinner did not know how to react to it.
Former Indian captain Kapil Dev whose record Ashwin overtook, also congratulated him for this achievement. The 1983 World Cup-winning captain sent a bouquet and a handwritten note to the spinner.
Ashwin also spoke about how he had never even dreamt of such a feat. He was honoured by all the wishes he received. Coming to the first Test match, India defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged as Man of the Match for his brilliant performance with both bat and ball. He scored an unbeaten 175 and took nine wickets in the match. The second Test match is scheduled to begin on 12th March in Bangalore.