Ravichandran Ashwin along with his grandfather and mother and father at their residence in Chennai. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Lying within the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Chennai hospital, Chitra Ravichandran was slipping in and out of consciousness however she had only one question for her son Ravichandran Ashwin when she noticed him by her bedside — “Why did you come?” Hours after turning into solely the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets, Ashwin rushed again to his house in Chennai in the course of the third recreation towards England in Rajkot after coming to know that his mom had been hospitalised following a blackout.
“When I landed and got to the hospital, my mom was slipping in and out of consciousness, and the first thing she asked me was, ‘Why did you come?’ The next time she was conscious, she said, “I believe you must return as a result of the Test match is occurring,” Ashwin told ‘ESPNCricinfo‘ on the eve of his 100th Test.
INFOGRAPHICS | Where Ashwin stands among the bowling pantheon
The off-spinner emotionally recalled how his parents Ravichandran and Chitra worked their “backsides off” to help him realise their collective cricketing dream.
“The entire family is built on cricket and to facilitate my profession. It hasn’t been simple. It has been very exhausting on them. It’s been an enormous roller-coaster for them — going via the feelings and ups and downs that I actually do,” the 37-year-old said.
Ashwin, at times, did feel that the sport meant more to his family than him.
“I am in the second half of my thirties and my dad still watches a game like he would watch my first international game. It means a lot to them. Compared to what it means to them, it definitely means less to me.”
“They have eradicated something that is available in the way in which of my cricket. That has been the only real objective of their lives ever since I can keep in mind,” he said.
Ashwin’s father is an avid cricket-watcher and the former club cricketer is present even at the most nondescript grounds to watch TNCA first division league.
“It was as if I was living the dream my dad wanted to achieve. Imagine somebody wanted to become a cricketer [but doesn’t]. He gets married, he has a son.”
“And he wants to live the dream through his son, and he does everything from teaching me, to taking notes from my classmates, to taking me to private tuitions to make sure I play the maximum possible amount of cricket while still finishing my education.”
“And this woman [mother] coming from another hamlet says, ‘I assist you since you could not grow to be a cricketer. Let’s assist our son to grow to be a cricketer. Let’s work our backsides off’. And the father-in-law helps it, and then the sister-in-law helps it.”