India vs Australia: ‘We just walked away from that game’ – Ravichandran Ashwin explains how India bounced back after Adelaide horrorshow

India had the worst possible start to the Border Gavaskar series as they succumbed to an eight-wicket defeat at Adelaide. After keeping their nose ahead for the first two days of the Test, the visitors folded for 36 in their second innings. They not only handed Australia an easy win but registered their lowest ever Test total in the process. To add to their woes, big guns Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami returned home following the series opener.

Against all the odds, India registered an eight-wicket win in the Boxing Day Test to level the series. Ravichandran Ashwin shares that the side indulged in team-building exercises as they geared up for the second Test. Ashwin is all praises for stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane‘s calm and composed demeanour. And adds that his balanced approach helped the players to play with freedom at the MCG.

“The best thing that we did was just walk away from that game — in Adelaide — and we said that it was just one of those unfortunate days and the batting unit definitely did take responsibility for it. Most importantly, losing Virat was not easy but the discussion we had around it and the team-building exercises that we did through that phase from Adelaide to Melbourne was very crucial and Jinks was very, very calm and balanced which gave many of us the launch-pad to go out there and express ourselves after that defeat,” Ashwin said in a video posted by BCCI.

Ashwin hails MCG win as extremely special

Putting the big defeat behind them, India pulled off an emphatic performance in the second Test. Captain Rahane smashed a scintillating ton and the bowlers were on song as the visitors levelled the series. Veteran off-spinner Ashwin hailed the victory as a special one for the side. He explains that the fact that they pulled off the win despite coming off a historic defeat. And were without their best batsman is what makes the occasion a special one.

“Many of us have played for a while now and we have had some special wins but if I had to pick one that would be extremely special is this one for a lot of reasons. This team minus Virat, the batting giant that India had over the last decade or so, is not that easy and Jinks stood up and that is one of the finest cricketing knocks I have seen,” he added.

Ashwin has scalped five wickets in both the Tests so far and scripted history during the Boxing Day Test. The crafty offspinner became the bowler with most left-hander dismissals in the history of Test cricket. Ashwin pipped legendary Muttiah Muralitharan to achieve the feat.

Also Read | Ravichandran Ashwin scripts history as India levels series at MCG