R Ashwin’s wife Prithi Ashwin has revealed the incidents that led to the cricketer abruptly pulling out midway from the Rajkot Test against England, moments after he picked up his 500th wicket.

R Ashwin became only the second India bowler to scalp 500 Test wickets when he dismissed Zak Crawley in the final session on day two in Rajkot. Ashwin, who admitted to being in a “really good space in his life” following the feat, withdrew from the Test the same evening due to a family emergency, leaving fans concerned.

Even as the BCCI release requested privacy, Rajiv Shukla, the board’s vice-president, tweeted that Ashwin had to rush to Chennai to be with his mother, who had been unwell. As a result, Ashwin missed the third day’s play but was back on the field for day four.

Prithi has now given the details of what transpired and how from receiving congratulatory messages about Ashwin’s 500th Test wicket, the mood became sombre.

“As a family we were very cocooned when he was on 499 wickets. That was because Ashwin did not talk about it. During Rajkot, the kids had just got back from school when five minutes later, he got to 500. And soon, all of us were on the phone answering all the congratulatory messages,” she told The Indian Express.

“It was then that I heard a sudden scream from aunty as she collapsed, and in no time we were at the hospital. At that point, we had decided not to tell Ashwin because there wasn’t good flight connectivity between Chennai and Rajkot.

“So I dialled Cheteshwar Pujara, and his family [who stay in Rajkot] was of great help. And once we found a way out, I called up Ashwin because after the scans, the doctor suggested it was better to have her son around. Over the phone, he sounded so broken and hung up. It took another 20-25 minutes to process what I told him and for him to call back. And thanks to Rohit [Sharma], Rahul-bhai [Dravid] and the others in the team and the BCCI — who followed up all the way till he reached here — he got here late at night.”

Ashwin reportedly flew down to Chennai on a chartered plane that had been arranged by the BCCI: “It was a very emotional moment for him to see his mom in the ICU. And after she stabilised, we asked him to rejoin the team. Given his personality, he would never leave a game like that. And he would have an extreme amount of guilt if he didn’t win the game for his team. Through those couple of days, I realised his yearning for time with his parents is a lot more now and it is coming with age and maturity.”

Ashwin is now gearing up to play his 100th Test in Dharamsala and will become the 14th Indian to the milestone.

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