Ravichandran Ashwin has shared how he was obsessed with the Australian drawing his wife asking about him having a man crush on Smith. (AP/Reuters)While Australian batsman Steve Smith crossed the 10,000 run mark apart from hitting his 35th Test hundred during the ongoing first Test against Sri Lanka earlier this week, former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has shared how he was obsessed with the Australian drawing his wife asking about him having a man crush on Smith. The Indian off-spinner had dismissed Smith eight times during his Test career and recounted his battle with the Australian batsman.
“I don’t know how many times I watched Steve Smith bat, I can’t even remember. My wife was in the room, my kids were in the room. I don’t think I saw them properly at all for a few days. Like I kept zooming in on something, my wife watched from behind and said ‘what the hell are you watching? Why are you going so close on Steve Smith? Do you have like a…’. I think she was concerned and rightly so. I wouldn’t have faulted her if she thought I had a man crush on him,” Ashwin said while speaking at the AWS AI Conclave in Bengaluru.
While Smith has been dismissed most in Tests by England pacer Stuart Broad with 11 dismissals, the Australian has been dismissed by England pacer James Anderson nine times during his career. Ashwin, who had first bowled to Smith in Tests in the third Test during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2013, did not have the wicket of Smith in Tests in the next two series before the Indian off-spinner removed Smith seven times in the next three series with his last dismissal of Smith coming in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Delhi in 2023. Ashwin had dismissed Smith in both the innings in Delhi.
Earlier in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2021, Ashwin had dismissed Smith thrice in the series with first of those dismissals coming at Adelaide. “Smith had an unorthodox technique that his hand needed to come down at a certain time, it was weird. I found that if I can disturb his technique. I thought of not jumping but instead, loading and delivering the ball. I delivered that ball in Adelaide. He was late on it and nicked it to slip,” Ashwin shared about the dismissal in the Adelaide Test in 2021.
Smith became only the fourth Australian cricketer besides Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Rickey Ponting to achieve the rare feat of having 10,000 runs in Tests and also became the 15th cricketer in the world to do so. With his 35th Test century this week, Smith now occupies the seventh spot in the list of most hundreds in Test cricket.
“I’ve seen all these hundreds as a coach and as a broadcaster and he’s a special player. He’s so passionate about the game. What amazes me is how he’s prepared to adapt to different conditions. He got a hundred on a rank turner in India, which was special. And even when he’s not at his best, he finds ways to get into positions to score runs. When you’re around for that length of time, there are teams analysing you, there are video analysts looking at every part of your technique. And then to still be able to be ahead of the curve — and he will average over 55 — at the age of 35, to go past 10,000 runs is special. So I think he’s a great player,” former Indian coach Ravi Shastri had told Fox Cricket.
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