Ravichandran Ashwin opens up on the difficulties he faced during Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21

The Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 was filled with struggles for the Indian team. The Asian side struggled through injuries, but kept fighting for the prized trophy that they were defending. They had lost the services of the then skipper Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami after the first game of the series. During the next game, Umesh Yadav pulled his hamstring and was ruled out.

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The team was chasing 407 runs in the fourth innings of the third Test. The team was going well as Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara stitched a partnership of 148 runs. However, after they got out, it looked like the team might lose the game. However, the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari batted for one and a half sessions to deny the Aussies a win.

Talking about the same, Ashwin said that the duo became comfortable with each other's game. The off-spinner revealed that they realised each other's fitness issues and made a plan on who will face the pacers and who will face the spinners.

"We both got comfortable the instant we went in. We realised what problem we had, he could not come forward and be going on the backfoot. He was struggling from the hamstring injury. When I went to the crease I could not go forward against the fast bowlers. So in that situation, I said we will rotate and see how this will work," Ashwin was quoted as saying by India Today.

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The 35-year-old added that his wife and family helped him to stand as he was suffering from stiffness in his back after bowling in the third innings.

"It was surprising to me that I went bowling after the injury with painkillers. And bowled 13 or 14 over on the trot. It was so bad I was rolling on the floor because of the pain. My wife and kids helped me to stand and then the Physio came to check me. I went to the game crawling, but did my best," he said.