Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed a tough phase of his professional career when he considered retiring from the game. Ashwin cited the period between 2018 and 2020 when he felt like he was not being given the kind of backing that others in the Indian team were while he was facing frequent injuries.
The Chennai-lad pointed out that the basic understanding of injuries in the Indian cricket circle is not good at all as people tend not to find the reason behind someone’s injury and keep on repeating the same problem.
“These injuries left a lot of scars on me. In the cricketing community (in India), the understanding towards injuries is pathetic. Clearly, there is a reason why I was getting injured, but we are not interested in finding that out. We just keep repeating that the problem is a problem, but that does not help me find a solution. Nor will shaming someone for getting injured,” Ashwin told ESPNCricinfo.
Ashwin reckoned there was ‘insensitivity’ towards his injuries that scared him. The Tamil Nadu spinner thought that he considered himself isolated as people were not backing him despite the fact that he had won many matches for India.
“A lot of teammates get injured, but when I got injured, it seemed more than what it was. There was insensitivity towards injury. It scarred me deeply. I contemplated retirement for a lot of reasons. I felt like people were not sensitive enough to my injuries. I felt like a lot of people were backed, why not me? I have done no less. I have won a lot of games for the team, and I am not feeling backed,” added Ashwin.
“I don’t usually look for help, that somebody needs to back me, that somebody needs to cushion me or give me empathy. I felt I was not being able to be excellent and felt I needed a shoulder to lean on. It was not happening. I thought maybe I should try to find something else and be excellent at that,” Ashwin added further.
