Senior India off-spinner R Ashwin has revealed that he was “supposed” to play in the group-stage match against New Zealand in World Cup 2023 in Dharamsala, but couldn’t due to the injury to Hardik Pandya forced a change in India’s balance.
R Ashwin played in India’s opening match in the World Cup against Australia at his home ground, Chennai, and bowled brilliantly, helping India restrict Australia to 199. But the senior off-spinner didn’t play a single game after that.
Hardik Pandya got injured in India’s fourth match, against Bangladesh in Pune. That forced India to make a tweak in their balance, replacing Hardik and Shardul with Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami. India retained that same combination for the rest of the tournament as Shami bowled with deadly venom and success.
R Ashwin said he hadn’t thought that he would play in only one game throughout the tournament, especially in India. He revealed he was set to feature against New Zealand, who had 3-4 left-handers in their top 8, but Hardik’s injury meant that R Ashwin couldn’t play anymore.
“Never thought that my run at the World Cup would end after playing one match in Chennai because I was bowling with good rhythm,” R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“My return was supposed to come against New Zealand at Dharamsala, Hardik had a heartbreaking injury. Hardik Pandya was an important figure because we did not have an all-rounder to replace him,” he added.
Rohit Sharma had us playing an exciting brand of cricket: R Ashwin
The 36-year-old off-spinner praised head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma for encouraging the players to play an “exciting” brand of cricket throughout the World Cup. But it faltered, unfortunately, right at the last, in the final against Australia.
“Both Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma said that they had well-laid-out, strong plans. This World Cup had us playing an exciting brand of cricket,” Ashwin said.
