The incident had happened in the final of the 2019-20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Ravichandran Ashwin is indeed one of the smartest players to ever play the game. He seems to hve studied the rulebook in cricket completely and keeps on challenging them with his antics. Well, whatever innovations he has done so far in his career were all according to the rules but the Spirit of Cricket discussion always came up in response to that.
The world knows about Ashwin running the non-stirker Jos Buttler for leaving the crease early. But not many expected him to get retired out during the IPL 2022 game between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals on Sunday (April 10). He wanted to give the designated finisher Riyan Parag a go at the opposition in the death overs and sacrificed his wicket for the same to only become the first batter in the history of the IPL to retire out.
Well, these are not the only instances when Ravi Ashwin’s smartness left the fans in awe. In the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Karnataka during the 2019-20 season, Tamil Nadu needed three runs off the final ball and the off-spinner was not on strike. With no chance to face the ball anymore, Ashwin smartly removed his pads to try and run fast so that the game goes into the super over.
Not many had witnessed such scenes before on the field and they lauded his presence of mind to help his team get over the line. Having said that, despite his smartness, the batter couldn’t connect the bat to the ball and they could scamper only for a single. Tamil Nadu lost the close game by one run but Ashwin removing the pads to run remained the talking point for quite some time.
Coming back to the game between RR and LSG, Ashwin yet again proved that he is a team player. He was sent in to bat at six when RR’s innings was in doldrums. He batted well to resurrect the innings with Hetmyer and added 68 runs for the fifth wicket. But just when he realised that he wasn’t able to hit the ball well, he decided to walk off and give Riyan Parag a go who managed to hit a six during his short stay in the middle.
