‘Every day I woke up, reading that I should play’ – Ravi Ashwin recalls his 2011 World Cup journey

Ravi Ashwin, the veteran Indian cricketer, has revealed how the experts and his fans desperately wanted him to play in the 2011 World Cup. As far as ODIs are concerned, Ashwin had played only seven games before the mega event where he picked up 14 wickets. However, he had to wait until the 42nd match in the tournament against the West Indies at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Ashwin didn’t disappoint as he got rid of Kirk Edwards and Ravi Rampaul, taking India to a crucial victory by 80 runs. But in the World Cup, Ashwin got to play only a couple of games, the other match coming against Australia in the quarter-final. Going down the memory lane, Ashwin understood that Harbhajan Singh’s presence in the eleven made it tough for him to get into the eleven.

Ravi Ashwin opines

“I remember that World Cup very very clearly. Every morning I woke up, I wasn’t playing in the XI. I hadn’t played a lot of one-day cricket also leading into the World Cup. I just played a few games but I had performed quite very well, and every day I woke up, the paper would read Ashwin should get a game, Ashwin should be playing so and so forth,” Ashwin told to Sportskeeda.

“We had Bhajjupa (Harbhajan) in the XI as well. So, I was finding it very difficult to balance. For me, it was like, I would like to be playing, I want to be playing. Every cricketer wants to play, but here I am, being told that I must play.

“So, delivery of the fact saying, Ashwin will play and he will help the team win, sort of told me, if I have to play I need to win the World Cup for the country because everybody had said that I should play and if I play, India will win the World Cup,” he added.

In his career, Ashwin has played 111 ODIs where he picked up 150 wickets. However, in the last three years, the now 33-year-old tweaker hasn’t played in the format, especially after the emergence of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

Same has been the case even in T20Is. Nevertheless, Ashwin remains to be a key component of the Test setup, having picked up 365 wickets from 71 matches.