Ashwin and Vihari battled with pain to bat out for a famous draw for India at SCG.
Indian off-spinner R Ashwin on Saturday (4th June) recalled his banter with Tim Paine during the SCG Test of the epic series against Australia in 2021-21. He also talked about his batting heroics at the SCG.
India’s tour to Australia in 2020-21 not only saw the Asian giants scripting history but it also saw them facing many obstacles. Not only did they suffer a plethora of injuries and racial slurs, but they were also at the receiving end of heavy sledging by the Australian players.
One such incident came during the third Test match at SCG. Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari showed great grit and determination and despite suffering the injuries kept batting for their side to eke out a famous draw.
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As Australians were frustrated, skipper Paine started poking Ashwin from behind the stumps. He started with, "I can't wait to get you to the Gabba, Ash, I'll tell you what, woohoo.”
To this Ashwin replied, “Just like we wanna get you to India. That will be your last series.”
Paine then continued the chatter and said “Maybe. Are you a selector here as well?” "At least my teammates like me, d**khead. I’ve got a lot more Indian friends than you do. “Even your teammates think you’re a goose. Don’t they? Every one of them." Ashwin refused to bat until keeper-batter stopped chattering.
“Tell me when you’re done," he said. “I’ll talk all day, mate. Wait until you get to the Gabba, pal,” Paine responded.
Speaking during the trailer launch of the Voot Select's web series Bandon Mein Tha Dum, R Ashwin recalled his banter with Tim Paine during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21. He revealed that they planned the right-hander’s dismissal with a deliberate field position.
"I think Vihari will remember why I said that as well. Because we had a discussion on the way Tim Paine was batting through the series. I kept telling these guys and we got a very different sort of a short leg position, which was forward short leg and then we usually have a leg slip.
“We had a chat... Rahane, myself, Vihari and we said, 'Pujara will generally stand at leg slip but this guy won't stand with the helmet. Let's put him somewhere else and get this guy under the lid,” R Ashwin said.
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Ashwin revealed why he said to Paine that "they want to get you him to India and that will be your last series". He said that it was ‘instantaneous’ because they had a conversation like this within their team.
“We had this conversation and parked him there in a very awkward position and he (Paine) actually nicked off there. We had a celebration and I told Vihari, 'This guy better not come to India. If he actually comes to India, he will be going there every single time.
At the end of the day, he was having a go at us when we were batting and it just came out of my mind because we had a conversation like that. It was very instantaneous," he said.
Ashwin also talked about his heroics with the bat. He recalled how he took painkillers to ease his severe pain, where he couldn’t stand, and then did his best for his team
"It was surprising to me that I went bowling after the injury with painkillers. And bowled 13 or 14 over on the trot. It was so bad I was rolling on the floor because of the pain. My wife and kids helped me to stand and then the Physio came to check me. I went to the game crawling, but did my best," he said.