R Ashwin was extremely emotional when he saw his mother in an ICU, revealed his wife Prithi. Ashwin, who is set to play his 100th Test match for India, when the side takes on England in the fifth and final encounter in Dharamshala, had to leave the third Test in Rajkot mid-encounter.
This was the same Test in which Ashwin reached the milestone of 500 Test wickets, by dismissing England opener Zak Crawley on day two of the match. However, he received the news of his mother’s illness later that day and decided to leave for Chennai at the earliest.
India had to play a full third day with just four proper bowlers before Ashwin came back on the fourth day.
Prithi Ashwin, in her column for Indian Express, recalled that harrowing moment her mother-in-law, Ashwin’s mother Chitra, fell sick and had to be hospitalized. She also revealed that it was Cheteshwar Pujara and his family who then helped her take care of things until Ashwin arrived.
“It was then that I heard a sudden scream from aunty as she collapsed, and in no time we were at the hospital. At that point, we decided not to tell Ashwin because there wasn’t good flight connectivity between Chennai and Rajkot.
So I dialed Cheteshwar Pujara and his family were of great help. And once we found a way out, I called up Ashwin because, after the scans, the doctor suggested it was better to have her son around,” Prithi wrote in the column.
Prithi further thanked India captain Rohit Sharma, coach Rahul Dravid, and the BCCI for helping Ashwin reach Chennai at the earliest. She also writes that Ashwin was very emotional seeing his mother in the ICU.
“Over the phone, he sounded so broken and hung up. It took another 20-25 minutes to process what I told him and for him to call back. And thanks to Rohit (Sharma), Rahul bhai (Dravid) and the others in the team and the BCCI — who followed up all the way till he reached here — he got here late at night.
It was a very emotional moment for him to see his mom in the ICU. And after she stabilized, we asked him to rejoin the team. Given his personality, he would never leave a game like that. And he would have an extreme amount of guilt if he didn’t win the game for his team. Through those couple of days, I realized his yearning for time with his parents is a lot more now and it is coming with age and maturity,” Prithi added.
Prithi also added that she and the family will travel to Dharamshala to witness Ashwin play his 100th Test match.
(Indian Express inputs)
