R Ashwin, who hit the winning run in the league stage fixture of the 2022 T20 World Cup game against Pakistan, has made a shocking reveal and said that he cursed Dinesh Karthik for a second while he came out to bat. India needed 2 runs off as many balls when Karthik got stumped.
Gievn that he is being backed to play the finisher’s role, the team had high hopes from the senior cricketer. But he disappointed and departed for 1 off 2. R Ashwin, the succeeding batsman, cursed Karthik before facing the first ball.
“As I walked in to bat, I cursed Dinesh Karthik for a second and then later thought, ‘No no, we still have time, let us do what we were here for’. It seemed like I was walking for ages to get to the pitch,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“Then I saw Virat Kohli and he told me so many things. But I thought of only one thing after seeing him. “God has given you so much today. So how will he ever let me down? So at least for you, won’t let me get these runs?” See the ball, then place it in a vacant space and just run, this is what I thought to myself.”
Mohammad Nawaz made the task easy for India by bowling a wide ball. The extra run brought down the equation to 1 off 1 and R Ashwin hit a boundary on the final delivery to propel the Men in Blue to a memorable win.
Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 82 in the chase to the target of 160 while Hardik Pandya hit a vital 40 off 37. The all-rounder did the job with the ball as well and scalped 3 wickets. Arshdeep Singh gave India a dream start by dismissing Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan early. He scalped 3 wickets in total.
India next face Netherlands in their 2nd game of the tournament on Thursday (October 27) in Sydney.
