Ravichandran Ashwin was part of the Indian squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup. Under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, India reached the semi-finals but lost to England in the knockout stage.
India’s World Cup campaign began against Pakistan on October 23, 2022. Pakistan set a target of 159/8, with Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed both scoring fifties. Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya each took three wickets for India.
India’s chase got off to a rough start with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul both out cheaply for four runs each. Virat Kohli then came in and stabilized the innings.
The middle order faltered, with Suryakumar Yadav getting out for 15 and Axar Patel run out for two. India was struggling at 31 for 4, but Hardik Pandya (37) and Kohli put together a crucial 113-run partnership.
With 48 runs needed off the last 18 balls and Kohli in outstanding form, the situation came down to 2 runs required from the final ball of the 20th over after Dinesh Karthik was dismissed. At that moment, Ashwin stepped in to bat.
“One of the greatest moments of my cricketing career, there is only two runs to get but one ball left, I am talking about the India vs Pakistan game that happened at the MCG. I did not expect to be batting after Dinesh and Virat had that partnership. When I walked out to the middle, it was a surreal experience.” said Ashwin.
He also recollected the thoughts that he had while playing that ball from Nawaz that he left and was called a wide by the umpire. Ashwin’s cricketing brain was fully at work at that point and that was an example.
Ravichandran Ashwin Recalls The Wide ball from Mohammad Nawaz
“The moment he (Nawaz) delivered that ball, it took me back to my childhood days, where we used to play cricket with runs on the offside, so you leave the ball naturally when it is bowled on your pads. So I just left that ball, I just went numb for a moment, because this is what you all live for in a situation where there is the pressure you do not have to hit all the balls, you can choose to leave some of them” said Ashwin.
India won the match by four wickets with Ashwin hitting the winning runs. However, the real hero of that match was Kohli who scored an unbeaten 82 off off 53 balls with his team under pressure.
