R Ashwin’s mother collapsed the day he claimed 500 wickets, wife Prithi describes episode
Star Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had to take an emergency leave after the day 2 of India vs England Rajkot Test, owing to a ‘family emergency.’ It is noteworthy mentioning that the spinner had claimed his 500th Test wicket on the same day.
The veteran pacer headed off to home right after a press conference on the day. In a statement, the BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India) stated it as a “Family emergency” for Ashwin. Later, it was revealed that the situation was connected to his mother’s health.
Now, R Ashwin’s wife Prithi penned down a column for The Indian Express on the happenings of that day. In the column, she mentioned that Ashwin’s mother had suddenly collapsed, after which the family took her to a hospital.
In the column, she wrote, “During Rajkot, the kids had just got back from school when five minutes later, he got to 500. And soon, all of us were on the phone answering all the congratulatory messages.”
“It was then that I head a sudden scream from aunty as she collapsed, and in no time we were at the hospital. At that point, we had decided not to tell Ashwin because there was no good flight connectivity between Chennai and Rajkot,” she further wrote.
She also mentioned how she called Cheteshwar Pujara to know about the return details of Ashwin. Pujara and his family were of great help and support during this time. Prithi further recalled calling up Ashwin as soon as it was possible. She further mentioned that over the phone, Ashwin sounded “broken and hung up.”
Meanwhile, she also thanked Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, and others for helping Ashwin get through the difficult time. After few days, Ashwin’s mother recovered. After which, the pacer joined back his team on the field to resume the Test.
Ending her column, Prithi wrote, “Through those couple of days, I realized his yearning for time with his parents is a lot more now and its coming with age and maturity.
Ms Kalinga