"I may die on the cricket field, but I will never back away from a contest" - Ravichandran Ashwin on SCG heroics

Team India stars Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari played through injury to help India save the Sydney Test in early 2021, which set them up for a historic win at the Gabba to win the Test series in Australia.

Ashwin battled a back injury and an abdomen tear to bowl close to 50 overs in the match and then bat out more than a session to deny Australia victory in Sydney.

Speaking to Boria Majumdar on 'Backstage with Boria' about how he played through the pain, Ashwin said he would 'die on the cricket field but not back away from a contest'.

"After the Adelaide Test, I had an abdomen tear. In Sydney, I was bowling before the game, and I felt I cannot go on in a Test match if I had to bowl 100 overs. The question asked to me was can you bowl 50 overs in the first innings and 50 in the second innings. I said I can bowl beyond pain barriers, because if there is one thing that I will never doubt about myself, is that I’ll never back down from a contest. I may die on the cricket field, but I will never back away from a contest," Ashwin said.

He went on to add:

"In Sydney, when there were murmurs about how I gave up, it felt like I was being killed from inside. So the only thing I wanted to achieve in life was to make sure that I go back, die on the cricket field trying to win a game for India. If at all Ashwin is a cricketer today, it’s about the fight this dog has, not how much quality this dog has."

Ashwin has had his fair share of injuries in the last few years. He revealed that a change in training to try and add more power to his game resulted in these niggles.

"I started training differently between 2015-16. I wanted to add some power into it, because T20 cricket was getting into this power domain sort of thing. I trained differently and what happened was, my body has limitations. My hip structure is not the same as someone else as I had hip injuries when I was younger and my hip just couldn’t function in the way that it does for somebody else," Ashwin said.

"For me to realise all these things, it takes time. I am a cricketer. Most of us are cricketers. We are not into sports science, we’re not into exercise science. When I started training differently, my body initially gave good results, but then it started giving up," he added.

Worked immensely hard to bring back joy of playing cricket - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin had a difficult time during India's previous overseas cycle in 2018-19, finding himself shuttled in and out of the playing XI while also battling injuries.

He revealed that he nearly contemplated quitting the game, but then worked hard to bring back enjoyment in playing cricket.

"I had lost the joy in 2018-19 season in Australia, literally saying ‘what the hell are you doing continuing to this game?’ I didn’t feel like I was enjoying. There was no joy. And I have worked immensely hard, mentally and physically, to bring back the joy back to my life of playing the sport and I won’t give that up for any trade-off in life," Ashwin said.

Ashwin is currently in South Africa for the three-match Test series there, and also recently made a comeback into India's white-ball setup.

Speaking about that and how long he wishes to extend his career, the 35-year-old said:

"I am just eager to get out there and play if given an opportunity. A lot of talk and murmurs will happen about people playing, not playing. One thing I have learnt is that if given an opportunity, I’ll make sure I play and enjoy the sport, but I will keep everything aside. Whatever I have left, I can’t call it and say I’ll play for 2 years, 3, years, 1 year, six months, nothing is a guarantee. The pandemic has taught me more than enough and I just want to play as long as this body and mind are willing me to play on. Every single opportunity is a day for me to cherish."