R Ashwin is one of the greatest spinner of Indian cricket team, so far the player took 427 test wickets and made his name as third-highest wicket-taker of red-ball formats from the country after Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev. The all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break shared his worst life experience as the cricketer.
During the interaction with ESPNCricinfo, the player told his most difficult phase of a life as a cricketer and he was almost to give up on the cricket in the year 2018-2020, Ashwin said "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."
He further added, how he made several adjustment to continue his cricket journey, "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 said.
He further stated that the lack of support has made that phase so hard for him, “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,” he added.
The player, continued and said quitting the game idea had came in his mind several times, Ashwin said, “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,”.
