India's off-spinner R Ashwin recalled the tough phase in his life when people questioned his potential and called him 'finished'. Ashwin used to hear people murmuring about his international career being done in Chennai clubs, and it hurt him.

But now after overcoming all the challenges, Ashwin is still going strong and he has been nominated for the ICC Men's Test Player of 2021. The offie bagged 54 wickets in 2021 in the Test cricket and he has also made a return to the limited-overs squad. 

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“As a sportsman, you are engulfed by criticism. You want to overcome that. A lot of people wrote me off. I used to walk into club games in Chennai and I used to put in the hard yards. And I would hear murmurs about people saying ‘this guy is coming and playing because his international career is done, he is finished’. I used to keep hearing these things. Sometimes it’s easy to laugh off, sometimes it hurts," said Ashwin on Backstage with Boria.

The 35-year-old had to take extra care of his body due to injuries and he spoke about changes in his diet and fitness regime during the pandemic. "I used to wake up during the pandemic every single day telling myself - it doesn’t matter what people think, but this particular cricketer, this particular character has has something left. 

"And, this is not how I want to leave. It used to be a hard battle. I used to train twice in a day. I reviewed over 3-10 dietitians. I am definitely eating better, training better, and more positive inside my head," he said.

Last year, Ashwin had to leave the IPL midway as almost everyone in his family got infected with COVID-19. It was a decision he made to be with his family in their tough time, and he recounted the sacrifices his father made in his childhood to see him play for India.

“At the age of 12, we were going to play a league game. These hanging rope balls used to be there. I played a pull shot inspired by Ricky Ponting (at home). The ball hit the fridge and ricocheted. I finished my pull shot and the bat hit my father flush on the nose. He started bleeding profusely, my bat was full of blood."

“He went straight to the hospital and stitched his nose up. He came back, picked up my kit bag, and took me to the game 20 kms from the house. He had opportunities to go for promotion. He gave everything away, just because he wanted his son to wear the India colors, maybe, one day.”

“He was in the ICU, I don’t need to explain why I needed to go back (from IPL). If those were his last days and if I hadn’t gone back home and I couldn’t see him, why am I even a son? It doesn’t make any sense," he said.

(Inputs from Backstage with Boria)