Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin said that his dream of playing a Test against Pakistan remained unfulfilled. He wanted to play a Test against Pakistan since childhood, but due to some reasons it could not happen. Ashwin said in an interview on Gobinath’s YouTube channel, ‘I was inspired to play cricket after seeing Sadagopan Ramesh. He was the first batsman from Tamil Nadu to score runs without any worry in international cricket. I used to dream about his innings against Pakistan.’ Ashwin retired last week Ashwin retired after the Brisbane Test between India and Australia on 18 December. He announced his retirement in a press conference with captain Rohit Sharma. At the age of 38, he took 537 Test wickets for India, but never got a chance to play against Pakistan. What did Ashwin say? Ashwin said, ‘The biggest unfulfilled dream of my life remained that I could never play a Test match against Pakistan. However, it goes on. Now, I can’t do much by thinking about something that is not in my hands to change.’ S Ramesh inspired him a lot in his childhood Ashwin said that former Tamil Nadu batsman S Ramesh inspired him to play Test against Pakistan. The off-spinner said, ‘Sadagopan Ramesh is a big inspiration for me. I myself don’t know how big a role he played in my life. He was the first batsman from Tamil Nadu who scored runs without any fear in international cricket. I saw many players from Tamil Nadu scoring runs on the international stage, but everyone faced problems somewhere or the other. They did get established later on, but no one could play cricket the way Ramesh played. He scored runs without any worry even against bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus and Shoaib Akhtar. He always had a lot of time to play shots.’ I was crazy about Ramesh’s shots – Ashwin
Ashwin further said, ‘I remember Ramesh once played a flick shot against Waqar by lifting one leg. I kept thinking about that shot all night, I was excited to see him batting the next day. After 5 years, Ramesh and I were playing cricket from the same club team. That was a fan boy moment for me, he is a huge inspiration for me.’ Ramesh played 19 Tests for India
Sadagopan Ramesh is a former cricketer from Tamil Nadu. He played 19 Tests for India and scored 1367 runs at an average of 37.97. He started his career in 1999 against Pakistan and scored 323 runs in 3 Tests at an average of 53.83. He played his first Test at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium. There, he scored 43 runs off 41 balls in the first innings itself. Why Ashwin could not play Test against Pakistan
Ashwin played cricket for India in all three formats, but Test was his best format. He played ODI and T20 cricket against Pakistan, but could never play Test against this team. This is because due to political dispute between the two countries, bilateral series does not take place. The last Test between India and Pakistan was in 2007, Ashwin did not debut then. He got a chance to debut in 2011, after which he ruled the hearts of Indian fans and Test cricket for 14 years. During this time, no Test was played between India and Pakistan. Ashwin was also the number-1 bowler and number-1 all-rounder in the Test rankings. Even at the time of retirement, he was the number-5 bowler and number-3 all-rounder. Ashwin took 13 wickets against Pakistan
Ravi Ashwin could not play Test against Pakistan, but he definitely played 6 T20 and 8 ODIs against them. In these, he took 3 wickets in T20 and 10 wickets in ODI. He also scored 45 runs in ODIs. Ashwin scored only one run in T20 against Pakistan, but perhaps this was the most important 1 run of his T20 career. Ashwin’s one run against Pakistan came in the 2022 T20 World Cup at the Melbourne ground. When Team India needed 2 runs off 1 ball. The Pakistani bowler bowled the next ball on the leg stump, which Ashwin left, which went wide. Now the team needed 1 run, here Ashwin played a shot over mid-off and took one run. With this, the team won the thrilling match by 4 wickets. Virat Kohli played an unbeaten innings of 82 runs in the match.
