2 days Ago By Chankesh Rao
Ravichandran Ashwin played a pivotal role in India's unprecedented streak of winning 18 consecutive home Test series over a span of 12 years. However, the legendary Indian bowler was visibly disheartened when this remarkable run came to an end after New Zealand's remarkable victory on Indian soil, resulting in a 3-0 whitewash of the Rohit Sharma-led team. This defeat marked the first instance of India suffering a whitewash at home in a Test series consisting of three or more matches.
Ashwin, who is considered one of the greatest bowlers in the history of Indian cricket, had a disappointing performance in this series, managing to take only nine wickets in three matches against the Black Caps. The 38-year-old cricketer wasted no time in shouldering the blame for the team's poor showing and acknowledged that his own performance was a significant factor in the embarrassing outcome. In addition to his bowling struggles, Ashwin also acknowledged his failure to contribute runs with the bat in the lower order as a contributing factor to the team's decline in fortunes.
"We have been hit by a 3-0 loss to New Zealand. I read that it has never happened in India in history. I don't know how to react to it.
I know that in my career and in my experience in cricket, we don't have so many emotions when we play. But it's a very shattering experience. That's the right word for it.
I didn't know how to react or respond to it for the last 2-3 days," said Ashwin on his Youtube channel. "I expect a lot from myself. I am a guy who says I am the reason for everything that went wrong.
I am also a big reason and a big part of it (series loss). I couldn't contribute to the lower-order runs. As a bowler, I know that runs are a vital currency for a bowler.
I started well in many places, then I threw it away on a couple of occasions. I put my best but it wasn't enough," he added. Ashwin, who garnered attention for his exceptional batting performance during the Bangladesh series in September where he scored a century in the Chennai Test, was unable to replicate his success against New Zealand.
The Indian cricket icon only managed to score 51 runs in six innings, averaging 8.50. Also read| WI vs ENG: Phil Salt scripts history with fiery century vs West Indies, closes in on Rohit Sharma's T20I record.
