Image Source: PTI
[Saba Sports News] Renowned Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is poised to mark his 100th Test appearance when India faces England in the upcoming match starting Thursday, March 7, at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. Ashwin is set to join the elite group of 14 Indian cricketers who have reached this milestone and is anticipating this special moment in his career.
Ashwin, since his 2011 debut against the West Indies, has navigated a career filled with significant achievements and challenges, continuously evolving as a cricketer. He recently shared insights into how a powerful dialogue from a Rajnikanth movie profoundly impacted his outlook on life, emphasizing the importance of living in the moment without being weighed down by the awareness of life’s finiteness.
“Lot of my takes in life and sport comes from movies. In one movie, Rajni (Rajnikanth) actually goes on to say this dialogue, he says, ‘When you know the death date, your living time becomes hell.’ We all know that we all have a marked death date but we all live very happily, we want to live the moment and we want to express ourselves because we all believe, we’re immortal for a very long time,” said Ashwin in a video released by BCCI.
“But the moment you know there’s finite nature to it. You start defending that finite nature. You don’t start living that finite space and I found that very deep. And then when you understand it, then when you’re able to put thought to it. It opens up a new cauldron for you, it kind of pushes the bar even more. You see, you know and I think that’s how I shed massive insecurities in my life,” he added.
On the cusp of his 100th Test, Ashwin is also on the brink of surpassing Anil Kumble’s record of 35 five-wicket hauls in Tests, aiming to secure his place as the Indian with the most fifers in the format. Achieving this would align him with Sir Richard Hadlee’s tally and place him just behind legends Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralidaran.