Delhi Capitals off-spinner pulled out of the IPL midway after COVID-19 affected his family and extended family during the deadly second wave.
Team India and Delhi Capitals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that he wondered if he would be able to play cricket again when he left the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) midway when the COVID-19 cases started emerging in his family and extended family.
Ashwin had exited the IPL bio-bubble after playing his side's super-over game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, which took place in his hometown Chennai itself. His wife Prithi Narayanan lated revealed that 10 members in their family had tested positive including children.
Now talking about the same, after almost a month, on his YouTube channel Ashwin said, "Almost everyone from my place had got affected due to COVID. In fact, a few of my cousins also got admitted and were serious and they somehow recovered. I couldn’t sleep for almost 8-9 days.
"Since I couldn’t sleep, it was really stressful for me. I was playing matches without getting any sleep. And since I found it really taxing, I had to quit IPL and go home midway. In fact, when I left, around that time, I had thoughts on whether I will be able to play cricket thereafter. But still, I did what was required at that point in time," he added.
A week later, the season was suspended after multiple cases emerged in the bio-bubble and BCCI said that it was done for everyone's safe interest as the deadly second wave in India has been devastating where people were gasping for oxygen and medical supplies.
“I thought there won’t be any cricket for some time. Even IPL got postponed. In between, when people in my house started recovering, I thought of coming back into the IPL and that’s when IPL was called off," he said.
Ashwin will now be travelling with the Indian team to England for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand and a five-match series against the hosts from August.
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