Team India created history when they broke Australia’s Gabba jinx by defeating them in the fourth and final match of the Border-Gavaskar trophy 200/21. However, speaking in an exclusive interview with Sports Yaari, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made a shocking revelation regarding that famous Test win.
Team India was totally clueless in the first match as they got bundled out for only 36 runs. Despite that setback, the Team stood firm and came back strongly in the second match to equalize the series straightaway. The third match at Sydney ended as a draw. However, Team India managed to win that final match at Gabba to defeat Australia on that ground after 32 years (29 Test matches).
“Ravi Shastri wanted a draw, but we went for the win!” - R Ashwin on Gabba Test
Ashwin was invited to the trailer launch of Voot Select’s upcoming documentary ‘Bandon Mein Tha Dum’, where the story of this famous Test series win will be shared in more detail. Famous director Neeraj Pandey has directed this series.
Speaking to the Sports Yaari in that event, Ashwin made a shocking revelation that Ravi Shastri (India's Coach at that time) wanted to draw that match rather than winning or losing it. He said: “ I was sitting outside. From inside, Ravi Bhai told me that he wanted a draw because we could easily manage that. But, we went for the win!” Founder and CEO of Sports Yaari, Sushant Mehta shared a small video clip from the whole interview on his official Twitter account.
Here is the tweet from his account:
Gabba test: Ravi Shastri wanted a draw, but we went for the win! Sports Yaari fam, aren't you shocked? #RAshwin #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/HTkhPgi7ax
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) June 2, 2022
Ashwin had a good series as he managed to pick up 12 wickets in three matches (six innings) at an economy of 2.57. He was instrumental with the bat as he scored crucial 78 runs in five innings of that series. In the third Test at Sydney, he stitched up a match-saving partnership with Hanuma Vihari which guided Team India to a fighting draw. Both were dealing with injuries. Yet, they made sure that India did not lose that game. Hence, for injury concerns, he missed that historic Gabba Test where players like Rishabh Pant, and Mohammad Siraj stepped up and won the game for their country.