Cricket / Started to hear crying noises, wife had a outburst of emotions in Brisbane hotel: Ashwin

Cricket Desk: India's victory in the Gabba Test last year will be a triumph that will be spoken about for years to come in the future. It is arguably the country's greatest ever victory in the history of Test cricket. 

Despite being without skipper Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Hanuman Vihari, India beat the hosts in the series decider and became the first team to beat Australia at the venue for 32 years. 

While the tales of how an inexperienced Indian team breached the fortress are immortalised in the folklore of Indian cricket,  Ashwin has revealed a deeply emotional story from a few days before the game. 

The off-spinner disclosed how his wife Prithi had an emotional breakdown a few days before the game in the team hotel due to the quarantine rules because of COVID-19. 

Talking on Boria Majumdar's show Backstage with Boria, Ashwin said, "So we were not supposed to be locked up in a room. My wife very well knows how difficult it is to travel. She has done this on and off for 10 years. At Brisbane, when we landed, they put us in a hotel room and they said, ‘you can’t go’. Ten minutes later, I started to hear some crying noises. It was not from my children. I went and saw that she (my wife) was crying. She had a massive burst out of emotions.”

"She said, ‘I don’t know what is happening but she can’t take these hotel rooms anymore.  You are going out to practice and get fresh air but I have to been in this room. It just feels too inhuman. I came out for the love that I have for you. But I can’t do this anymore

“She said, ‘I don’t know what is happening but she can’t take these hotel rooms anymore. You are getting fresh air but I have to been in this room. It just feels too inhuman. I came out for the love that I have for you. But I can’t do this anymore," added Ashwin. 

Ashwin further called for empathy for cricketers for the number of personal things they have to give up to be able to play the sport at the highest level. 

"There is no doubt cricketers are earning, making money. But you also need to understand that this is a career that is short-lived. People make sacrifices. I have given up on so many normal things. I am the only son in the family. I haven’t gone back for a Diwali or Pongal for 27 years. My parents had COVID and were in the hospital six months ago. I haven’t seen them for seven months. Yes, cricket is a bigger emotion than anything else in India. But empathy is something we can all do better with," said Ashwin. 

Ashwin was forced to miss the Gabba Test after suffering a back injury in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite the injury, Ashwin had played a heroic inning with the bat to save the game for India. He was India's second-highest wicket-taker in the series with 12 wickets in three games.