'I need closure': R Ashwin reflects on his tweet after India's big loss in WTC final vs Australia

Rohit Sharma-led India had a chance to end their ten-year-long ICC title drought when they faced Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval, London early this month. However, India fell flat and lost the game by a whopping 209-run margin with many questioning the performances of their top players and omission of No. 1 ranked Test bowler R Ashwin. Soon after India's defeat, Ashwin took to his official Twitter handle to share a post on the loss.

Ashwin wrote, "Congratulations Australia on winning this #WTCFinal and closing out this cycle of test cricket. It is disappointing to end up on the wrong side of things, nevertheless it was a great effort over the last 2 years or so to get here in the first place. Amidst all the chaos and scathing assessments, Ifeel it’s very important to acknowledge all my team mates who played in this cycle and most importantly the coaching and support staffs who have held on like a rock of support."

Recently, in a conversation with the Indian Express, the 36-year-old Ashwin reflected on his tweet. The veteran offieexplained that the post was an act to get closure for him to move past the heartbreaking episode. In addition, he opened up on the stress it put on his family, especially his ailing father.

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'The moment I get the closure I can move on'

Ashwin said, "The moment, the final finished I put out a tweet because I realised one thing is that I need closure. The moment I get the closure I can move on. There is no time to hang around. I have understood life a lot better now.

The more I see it, the kind of trauma toll it takes on my family is incredible. My father has a heart problem and other issues. Every single game, every single day, something happens, he will call me. He is stressed. It’s very easy for me to go out and play because it is still in my control. For my father, it is not and he goes through double of what I do. So looking at this in hindsight, everybody on the outside is irrelevant."

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Ashwin opined on his non-selection and added, "I have got no sympathy for my journey. It’s very easy for me to go back and say, okay, this didn’t happen for me or something happened for him. I don’t give myself one second of sympathy. That’s why I put that tweet because I wanted closure. I hated the fact that people are giving me sympathy, I just couldn’t take it anymore."

In this social media age, you don’t play and sometimes you are bigger than if you had played the game, right? People are talking, ‘if he had played we would have won’. I am not sure if I had played, we would have won. I would have given my best and I definitely think I gave myself the best opportunity to succeed there. I also think I earned my stripes. That’s all I can do. But the moment it got done, I just wanted to move on and focus on the TNPL for Dindigul Dragons."

Ashwin, with 474 Test scalps, will now shift his focus on India's 2023-25 WTC cycle which commences with a two-match Test series versus West Indies in the Caribbean island from next month.

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