India Test spinner R Ashwin was part of an exciting drawn Test against West Indies in 2011 when both teams ended up with their scores level. Ashwin was run out off the last ball trying to make two runs required for victory.
India was chasing 243 in the last two sessions, and a draw was expected. But a quick start from Sehwag, 60 off 65 deliveries, and another half-century by Virat Kohli gave India a chance.
But they lost the track after a collapse, and it ended with the same score as Ashwin couldn't complete the second run-off last ball at Wankhede Stadium.
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Talking about the match with Mazher Arshad on YouTube, Ashwin said, “In the final innings, we looked good to chase, but all of a sudden, we had a collapse."
“I found myself battling with the tail. It was very interesting because I had a hundred in the first innings. Second innings, I was again batting well. I was 20-odd. I was left with I think Varun Aaron at the other end, and I think it might have been two balls, two runs to get... we had two wickets in hand.”
Ashwin's hesitation to go for the second run avoided West Indies' whitewash of 0-3. “I didn’t want to risk going for a big shot, and then, the next batsman coming in and getting out – we could lose the Test match, from being in a position of strength, it was not even 50-50,” he said.
“So I blocked that ball from Fidel Edwards because it was swinging nicely and the chances of a No.11 getting out was pretty high. It was the calculation I’d put in my head; it was all coming from how much first-class cricket I had played, and whatever I believed was the right decision to make.”
The then India Test captain MS Dhoni had a chat with Ashwin after the match and told him another possible move. “I still believe it was the right decision to make. When I hit the ball to long on, it really went quick and straight to the fielder, so the chance to run for two was not there. It was quite an interesting game,” he said.
“After the game, MS Dhoni came to me and said, ‘You could have taken a chance in the previous ball. Probably taken a single, and let Varun Aaron slog one off the last ball’. So yeah, that’s hindsight.”
