Not playing a Test against Pakistan will go down as an unfulfilled dream: Ashwin

One of the most legendary careers in cricket history came to a rather unexpected halt last week as Ravichandran Ashwin called it quits after the Brisbane Test against Australia, bringing a sudden end to a 14-year-long international career. 

Ashwin was a champion all-rounder across formats, but it is no secret that Test was his best format. The off-spinner dominated batters through his mastery. In all, Ashwin played a total 106 Tests against eight different opponents but one team the off-spinner never went up against in whites was Pakistan. 

Political tension between India and Pakistan meant that the two sides have not played any Test cricket against each other since 2007, four years prior to Ashwin’s debut.

The 38-year-old opened up on how a part of him regrets never getting the chance to play Tests against Pakistan.

“One of the unfulfilled dreams in my life is that I never got the chance to play Tests against Pakistan,” Ashwin said speaking on Gobinath’s YouTube channel.

“But that’s okay. It is what it is.”

Ashwin revealed that the ‘dream’ to play a Test against Pakistan came after watching former India and Tamil Nadu batter Sadagoppan Ramesh sizzle in his debut Test series against the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. 

He narrated how, growing up, Sadagoppan Ramesh was one of his biggest inspirations. 

“Sadagoppan Ramesh was a huge inspiration for me. Even I didn’t initially realize how big an inspiration he was. He was the first Tamil Nadu batter that I watched who scored runs nonchalantly in international cricket. 

“I saw many Tamil Nadu batters score runs in international cricket but they usually struggled. They usually ground and found their feet [eventually]. But Ramesh used to nonchalantly take on the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. He had so much time to play the ball.

“I remember him [Ramesh] playing a one-legged flick off Waqar [Younis]. I was sleepless the whole night after watching that shot, excited about the prospect of watching him bat the next day.

“Then, five years later, me and Ramesh played in the same club team. It was a fanboy moment. He was a huge inspiration.”

Ramesh played 19 Tests for India, scoring 1367 runs at an average of 37.97. He began his Test career in dominant fashion against Pakistan, averaging 53.83 across three Tests, including starting his career off with a sizzling 41-ball 43 in his very first innings in Tests, at Chepauk.