With Ravichandran Ashwin battling it out against the Aussies at the SCG on day five, his wife, Prithi Ashwin turned into a fan and took to Twitter to share her emotions about the proceedings.
‘Day 5. C’mon India!,’ her first tweet from the day read as India walked out with a mammoth target, a day five wicket and a top quality Australian bowling attack ready to pounce on them.
Just like any other Indian fan, her disappointment at Ajinkya Rahane’s dismissal turned to relief and then excitement as Rishabh Pant went about his decimation of the Aussie attack with Cheteshwar Pujara for company.
Pant giving me mini heart attacks. 👏
— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) January 11, 2021
The partnership was soon broken with Pant miscuing a loft off Nathan Lyon and a few overs later Pujara followed. The stand between Hanuma Vihari and Ashwin took center stage on a tough day on the field for the Indians as Australians started dishing out verbals while bouncing the two batsmen.
As Tim Paine expressed his frustration by asking the players to “just get on with it” when Vihari was adjusting his chest pad, Prithi expressed shock at the insensitivity of the Australian skipper.
“Just get on with it …” Did I hear that right?
— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) January 11, 2021
Where to get full transcript of conversations from stump mics.
— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) January 11, 2021
Slowly, Ashwin and Vihari rode through the tough spell and settled down at the wicket. Like every Indian fan, Prithi was rooted to the same spot as the partnership started frustrating the Aussies.
The sledging didn’t tone down with Matthew Wade even hitting Vihari with an errant throw. As social media outraged over the tactics by the Aussies, Prithi wondered whether to “tweet as a fan” or as “a wife”.
https://twitter.com/prithinarayanan/status/1348518502617866240
Nobody move. I have stayed put in the same spot for hours with 2 kids. 🤷♀️ You can do it for 1 more hour. Go India!
— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) January 11, 2021
The sledging boiled down to a spat between Ashwin and Paine with the former asking the wicketkeeper to come down to India, warning him that it would be his “last series”. Prithi tweeted asking Ashwin to keep his cool.
Just imagine it is Aadhya crying nonstop at 3 am and ignore. 💃 https://t.co/zgw6ySjy54
— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) January 11, 2021
What to do with extra adrenaline when you are in a bio-bubble?
— Prithi Ashwin (@prithinarayanan) January 11, 2021
As India pulled off a remarkable draw, Prithi turned fan, and applauded each one of them egging India on during the game on social media.
She concluded her live-tweeting, revealing what Ashwin had gone through the previous night before battling it out in the middle for India on day five.
https://twitter.com/prithinarayanan/status/1348533080215023617
https://twitter.com/prithinarayanan/status/1348531992703299584
https://twitter.com/prithinarayanan/status/1348543629892018178
Ashwin logged on as soon as he returned to the changing room and revealed the impact of the support of his wife.
Instant tears!! 😭Thanks for being there with me through all this🙏🙏 https://t.co/aauA4Bg7Dy
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) January 11, 2021