Earlier in the month, India suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Australia as the team from down under beat the Rohit Sharma-led team comfortably in the WTC 2023 Final in The Oval to hoist the prestigious Test mace high.
One of the biggest points of discussion during and following the one-off game was the non-selection of veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing eleven.
Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid came under scrutiny as they opted to bench the 36-year-old for the summit clash.
Ashwin opened up on the decision to leave him out and the various dynamics in the dressing room following the defeat and remarked that in the current era of cricket, teammates are more colleagues than friends.
“This is an era where everybody is a colleague. Once upon a time when cricket was played, all your teammates were friends. Now, they’re colleagues,” Ashwin opined.
“There’s a big difference because here people are there to advance themselves and to stride ahead of another person sitting to your right or left. So nobody’s got the time to say, ‘okay, boss what are you up to’?” he expressed.
He further added that he felt that the game would get more nuanced and delightful if the teammates were to understand each other beyond a professional level.
“In fact, I believe cricket gets better when you share it. It gets better when you understand another person’s technique and another person’s journey. But it doesn’t happen anywhere close to how much it must happen.”
“Nobody will come for your help. It’s an isolated journey. Of course, you can reach any professional you want to, tap into some coach, you can pay and go, practice, try to feed of them and all that. But sometimes we forget that cricket is a very self-taught sport.”
Following the Tamil Nadu player’s comments, former Indian player and head coach Ravi Shastri emphasised that the same colleague attitude has always been the case in the sport and persists even in the commentary box.
“For me, it was always colleagues. You will have buddies who are colleagues. I mean how many close friends does anyone have? If you go and ask anyone, they will say 4-5 in their life! I’m happy with 5 close friends in my life, I don’t want more than that,” the 61-year-old said.
“What I’m saying is all the time colleagues. Commentary box, colleagues,” Shastri added.
Team India’s next challenge is the tour against the West Indies in the Caribbean, in which the teams are slated to play 2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is, starting on the 12th of July.
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