India off-spinner R Ashwin has won a couple of 'Player of the Series' awards at home this year, against England and New Zealand, but he was not included in the playing eleven in all four Tests on England tour, and the only overseas Test match he played before the Centurion Test in 2021 was against Australia in Sydney.

It was a memorable Test match for Ashwin, who had to survive more than 40 overs in a partnership with Hanuma Vihari to draw the Test for India. Despite injuries, Vihari and Ashwin posted a 62-run unbeaten partnership on the last day in 259 deliveries. 

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Speaking to renowned journalist Boria Majumdar on 'Backstage with Boria', Ashwin said, "It [back spasm] was very freakish. I was wincing in lower-back pain after I had hurt myself during practice. Nitin [the physio] gave my heavy painkillers on Day 4 and I kept bowling.

"I bowled two overs at Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, which took me to cross the pain barrier – I got used to the pain. I told Ajinkya Rahane [India’s stand-in captain] and Rohit Sharma that if you stop me, I won’t be able to bowl again. So, I went on [to bowl at a stretch] for 14 overs." 

Ashwin revealed he struggled to get out of his bed after waking up in the morning before Day 5's play. Calling it the worst night of his life, he said, “Australia declared later and I went back, but little did I know that I would have the worst night of my life. When I went after dinner to lie down, my back did not go down.

"I put a towel underneath my back, held my hip up, and went to sleep. The next morning when I woke up, my mind was telling me to get up but I couldn’t. I was shouting and yelling; the children helped me get up, but I couldn’t."

He added, "I crawled outside the door and kept yelling for the physio. I went into a hot shower, so that’s when my back started warming up. I don’t know how I went to the game. My daughter held my shorts – she just pushed the shorts up, and as she pushed up my shorts, I was tearing up. My wife asked, ‘You are going to play a game?’. I said: ‘I have to’."

Ashwin was ruled out due to a back strain after the Sydney Test, but his effort to save the Test match didn't go in vain. India had defeated Australia in the last Test match at The Gabba to seal the series 2-1. 

(With 'Backstage with Boria' Inputs)