NEW DELHI: Standing on the cusp of the historic feat of playing 100 Tests, Ravichandran Ashwin said that the milestone meant more to his family than to him.
“Just because I have great memory, people actually think that I value numbers, but I actually don’t. It does not mean anything to me. The 100th Test match probably means 10 x 100 to my dad, it means a lot to my wife and my mom. My daughters are more excited than I am. It’s just a number. Zaheer Khan could not play 100 Test, MS Dhoni could have rode on his (success) and played 100 Tests, but he did not,” the spinner said in Dharamsala on Tuesday.
Ashwin will only be the 14th Indian and the first from Tamil Nadu to feature in 100 Tests. He also pointed out that the 2012 home series against England where he was not at his best was instrumental in making him the bowler that he is today. The spinner had taken 14 wickets at an average of 52.64 in four Tests in a series loss which was India’s last on home soil.
“One of the turning points of my life was the England series when Cook came here and made all those runs. It has been talked about a lot but to me that and what led to the next home series against Australia (changed a lot for me). There was lot of noise about me being left out of the team, one of the selectors had a chat with me. At that time I was a bit nervy though I don’t know where it came from as I had done well previously,” he said.
“When I went back and reflected on it after all those articles written about me, it dawned upon me that what was wrong with me. That is a wonderful lesson that has been kept with me all these years down the line. “When I look back it, it taught me what I had to correct. Some of those questions were raised by me largely,” the 37-year-old added.
Agencies

Agencies