It’s been a dreamy ride. It’s been a fairy tale: R Ashwin on reaching the landmark of 400 Test wickets

R Ashwin on Thursday became the fourth Indian and also the second fastest (in terms of matches) to reach the landmark of 400 Test wickets. Ashwin achieved the feat in just 77 matches. Only Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (72) has gotten faster to the milestone.

Ashwin spoke about his feeling in the aftermath of India’s 10-wicket win against England in Motera and revealed how the last three or four months have been a fairy-tale ride for him.

“It feels amazing, the way the board was flashing 400 wickets, the entire stadium stood up and clapped for me,” Ashwin said in a post-match interview with broadcaster Star Sports.

“It’s quite pleasant that it happened in a winning cause because in the middle when we collapsed for about 145, I thought we might not have enough of a lead on the board and the game could be in the balance.”

“I can’t really get a grip of what’s happened in the last 2-3 months. If I look back, I must say it’s been sort of a dreamy ride, it’s been a fairytale. When I started the Aussie tour, I didn’t expect to be playing in the XI because Jadeja was looking like he was going to start. And he got a hamstring tear and since then things have just looked upwards.”

He also revealed things about the conversation he had with Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri at the start of the Australian tour. They had suggested him to work on his batting to be in the scheme of selection as they had already seen something special in his bowling.

“When I landed in Australia, the first session of practice in Sydney was quite interesting,” he said. “I thought I was bowling really well during the IPL as well – and when I reached Australia, both Virat and Ravi bhai were having a chat with me about how I should get my batting going, because both of them thought they had seen something happening in my bowling which looked really special.

“I don’t know what they thought or what they saw or what they felt, but they thought I was bowling really well. And you know, during the lockdown as well, I worked a lot on my fitness. On wanting to get my body ready for the so-called “next couple of years” or the next 3-4 years. Because you know this body is ageing by the moment, as we’re talking…so all those things started to pay rewards, I lost about 7-8 kilos through the lockdown. I just think from Australia onwards things have looked upwards for me,” Ashwin said.