"Hop and skip and keep going" - R Ashwin's hilarious take on imitating Harbhajan after surpassing him in 1st India vs New Zealand Test
Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that he used to imitate Harbhajan Singh’s bowling action during his younger days as a cricketer. Ashwin also added that ‘Bhajju pa’ was the reason he took up spin bowling.
On Monday, Ashwin went past Harbhajan’s tally of 417 wickets to become the third-highest wicket-taker in India’s Test history. The 35-year-old achieved the feat when he bowled New Zealand opener Tom Latham for 52 on Day 5 of the Kanpur Test.
In a light-hearted interaction with Player of the Match Shreyas Iyer (105 & 65) on bcci.tv, Ashwin recalled how he used to copy Harbhajan’s bowling action before discovering his own groove. The seasoned off-spinner told Iyer:
“I used to bowl a bit of seam up for Tamil Nadu. Then I had a pelvic disc slip. After that, I just started batting, didn’t want to bowl at all. But, after that 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, I decided to take up off-spin because of 'Bhajju pa'. It’s pretty easy, you put your hands across, hop and skip and keep going. That’s how I started. Now, I don’t know if I can do it (smiles).”
Congratulations @ashwinravi99 wish you many more brother.. God bless.. keep shining 👏👏
Ashwin also got the wicket of Tom Blundell (2) on Day 5 in Kanpur and now has 419 Test wickets to his name at an excellent average of 24.48
“Didn’t know if I would play Test cricket after the pandemic” - Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin is currently on a high. He recently made a successful comeback to India’s T20 squad after a gap of four years, during the World Cup in the UAE. He has continued the good work in the home series against New Zealand.
Harbhajan Singh was a terrific bowler for India. What @ashwinravi99 has done to go past him is a phenomenal achievement: Head Coach Rahul Dravid.
@Paytm #INDvNZ #TeamIndia https://t.co/SGh8UetSUY
However, the Tamil Nadu cricketer admitted that he was unsure about where his career was heading during the time of the pandemic. Ashwin conceded:
“I didn’t know if I would play Test cricket after the pandemic. I hadn’t played the last Test in Christchurch (before COVID). I was standing at the crossroads thinking whether I would play Test matches. Where is my future headed? Do I get into the Test team? This is the only format I play. God has been kind and I have been able to turn around things.”
Ashwin claimed three wickets in both innings of the Kanpur Test and also made useful contributions of 38 and 32 with the bat.