‘If that ball of Nawaz turned and hit my pad then..’: Ravichandran Ashwin makes stunning claim

The match between Team India and Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2022 saw a roller coaster finish, which had not just fans, but even fellow cricketers stunned in disbelief. Australia’s Mitchell Marsh jokingly remarked that the World Cup should be stopped after the India-Pak match. 

That final over from Mohammad Nawaz, with Team India needing a big total to win, and then Hardik Pandya’s dismissal, to Ravichandran Ashwin hitting the winning runs, had plenty of drama. 

Ashwin could have very easily been on the bench for the fixture with Yuzvendra Chahal having been preferred ahead of him in the lead-up to the tournament, but for the Pakistan game, Rohit decided to go with Ashwin. 

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He showed nerves of steel as he left a delivery sailing wide down the leg stump with Team India needing 2 runs to win off the final ball. The spinner has opened up on how he would have reacted had that ball struck him and if was given LBW out. 

While speaking to BCCI.TV in an interaction with Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Ashwin jokingly said he would have retired from cricket. 

“If that ball of Nawaz turned and hit my pad then only one thing I do was back to dressing room and picked my Twitter and write ‘Thank you so much, It was wonderful my cricketing career and Journey and thank you all (laughs)’,” said the veteran spin wizard.

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A golden rewind – When two heroes of two engrossing finishes get together to dissect their famous victories

Here’s @hrishikanitkar & @ashwinravi99 talking about the two #INDvPAK games – by @RajalArora

Clickhttps://t.co/fDy4r9U2cH to watch the full interview
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 26, 2022

After hitting the winning runs with a boundary later, Ashwin secured a stunning comeback from Team India who were reeling for 31-4 at one stage in their chase of 160. 

Virat Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 82-run knock also lauded the Indian spinner for his quick thinking. 

“I told Ashwin to hit…ball over covers. But Ash…usne dimaag ke upar extra dimag lagaya. That was a brave thing for him to do…The ball came inside the line and he turned it into wide,” said Kohli after the end of the India-Pakistan classic.