When Ashwin made even Rahul Dravid exult with his gully cricket smarts
Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently announced his retirement from the Indian cricket team, has recalled in an interview how he made former India coach Rahul Dravid exult after the match against Pakistan, with his quick thinking ability. Ashwin was referring to that famous leave against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in 2022 when India needed just two runs off the final ball. India had lost the wicket of Dinesh Karthik on the previous ball with Virat Kohli at the other end. And then, Mohammad Nawaz bowled a ball to newcomer Ashwin which was down the leg side. Instead of throwing his bat at it and trying to force runs, Ashwin calmly watched the ball go to the wicketkeeper for a wide. On the next ball, he took India to victory. “I hadn’t realized what I had done. I came back into the dressing room and I haven’t seen Rahul Dravid exult like that — I mean the second time I saw him exult was after the T20 World Cup, which we won recently. Until this …

