“It took 20 to 25 minutes to process,” was Ashwin’s response to his mother’s illness during the Rajkot test

Ravichandran Ashwin will always remember the current Test series against England for a number of reasons. He became just the second Indian bowler to reach 500 Test wickets in the third match at Rajkot. However, he had to leave the game quickly after hitting the milestone in order to see her sick mother at home. Thankfully, things improved in his family, and he was able to return to the squad before the hosts recorded their greatest victory against England in history.

Ashwin’s wife, Prithi, has disclosed the reason for the off-spinner’s decision to leave the squad halfway and go to Chennai from Rajkot, as Ashwin prepares for his 100th Test match for India.

As a family, we were really secluded when he was on 499 wickets, in contrast to the fervor around his 100th Test wicket. Ashwin’s silence on the matter was the reason behind it. The children had just returned from school during Rajkot when, five minutes later, he reached 500. And before long, we were all on the phone responding to all of the congratulations,” Prithi said in her The Indian Express blog.

Aunty started to scream at that point, and before I knew it, we had arrived at the hospital. She said we had made the decision at that moment to keep Ashwin in the dark since there was a poor air connection between Rajkot and Chennai.

Mrs. Aswhin went on to describe how she approached local celebrity Cheteswhar Pujara and his family for assistance before Indian captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Rahul Dravid, and the BCCI offered the cricket player their complete support.

I thus called Cheteshwar Pujara, and his family was very helpful. After we managed to escape, I gave Ashwin a call since the doctor had advised that having her son around would be beneficial after the scans. He sounded so devastated over the phone and hung up. He waited a further twenty to twenty-five minutes to absorb what I had told him and to return my call. And he arrived here late at night, owing to the efforts of Rahul Bhai (Dravid), Rohit Sharma, the rest of the squad, and the BCCI, who followed up with him the whole way.

“Seeing his mother in the intensive care unit was a really touching time for him. And we asked him to come back to the squad after she had stabilized. His nature would never allow him to quit a game like that. In addition, he would feel a great deal of remorse if his team lost the game. During those few days, I came to understand that his need for time with his parents has increased and that this is a sign of maturity and aging,” Prithi said.

An unforgettable series for Ashwin

In addition to being the second spinner in history to surpass the 500 mark after Kumble, Ashwin also achieved this achievement at the second fastest speed on the globe, behind spin magician Muttiah Muralitharan. He surpassed Kumble’s record of 350 wickets in the next match in Ranchi to take the lead among Indian bowlers with the most Test wickets.

Dharamsala is now waiting for him to represent India for the hundredth time in the longest format.