3 min read
R Ashwin with his family during the felicitation ceremony ahead of his 100th Test in Dharamsala. R Ashwin’s wife Prithi Narayanan has penned down a heartfelt note and on his retirement from the international cricket after the Brisbane Test.
“It has been a blurry two days for me,” Prithi wrote on her Instagram.
“I have been thinking about what I can say.. Do I put this down as a tribute to my all time favorite cricketer? Maybe I’ll just take the partner angle? Or maybe a love letter from a fan girl? I guess this is a little bit of all of it,” she said.
Prithi also revealed the highs and the lows of the cricketers.
“When I saw Ashwin’s press conference, I thought of small and big moments,” she continued.
“Many many memories over the last 13-14 years. The big wins, the man of the series awards, the quiet silence in our room after an intense game, the sound of the shower running for much longer than usual on some evenings post play, the scratch of pencil over paper as he scribbled thoughts down, the constant streaming of footage videos when he is making a game plan, the calm of meditative breathing before leaving for each game, certain songs playing on repeat while he unwinds..
“The times we wept in joy – after the Champions Trophy final, after the MCG win, after the Sydney draw, the Gabba win, after making a comeback in T20s…the times we sat in silence and the times when we had our hearts broken,” she added.
Prithi also shares her journey on how she grew so found of cricket.
“Dear Ashwin, from not knowing how to put a kit bag together to following you to stadiums all over the world, rooting for you, watching you and learning from you, it has been an absolute pleasure.
“The world you introduced me to gave me the privilege to watch and enjoy a sport that I love from close quarters.
“It also showed me how much passion, hard work and discipline is needed to keep your head above water. And sometimes even that is not enough.
“I remember us talking about why you, R Ashwin, had to do all of this and a lot more to even stay relevant in the scheme of things. How awards, the best of stats, the POMs, the accolades, the records didn’t matter if you didn’t sharpen your skill sets constantly and did not put in the work.
“Sometimes, nothing is enough. As you end your wonderful international run, I only want to tell you that it’s all good. It is all going to be good.
“It is time to set the burden of being you down. Live life on your terms, make space for those extra calories, make time for your family, make time to do absolutely nothing, share memes all day, create a new bowling variation, bug our kids out of their minds. Just do it all.”
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