The man of the moment in the just-finished India-South Africa Test series has undoubtedly been Ravichandran Ashwin. And even in the fourth innings of the Delhi Test where South Africa battled bravely for over 143 overs, it was Ashwin who prevailed, picking up yet another five wicket haul in the process.
That took to his total series haul to 31 wickets and, as the video above shows, he well and truly had the measure of the South African batsmen.
Unsurprisingly, Ashwin was awarded the Man of the Series award for his 31 wickets in the series. This was his fifth Man of the Series award, as he wryly pointed out to Sanjay Manjrekar who made an error while conducting his interview at the post-match presentation ceremony,
“Well done,” began Manjrekar. “This is your fourth Man of the Series award in just 30 odd Test matches...the record is five...”
“I think it’s five already, isn’t it?” shot back a visibly happy Ashwin.
Ashwin has been in fine form this series, but his mental strength came under immense strain in the latest Test. As Ashwin came out to bat on the first morning in Delhi, his home city Chennai was sinking. And his wife Prithi Ashwin tweeted about the burden Ashwin was carrying.
But Ashwin remained unbeaten on that day and went on to score a half-century the next day, a testimony to his mental resilience.
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