It was a great evening of celebration of Indian cricket and the best performers across age groups and domestic and international cricket for men and women in the BCCI awards in Hyderabad on Tuesday, January 23. Since the event was happening after a long gap of four years, the winners of the previous years were conferred their awards on Tuesday as well. For the men’s team, the cricketer of the year for the 2019-20 season was Mohammed Shami, the next was R Ashwin for 2020-21, Jasprit Bumrah for 2021-22 and Shubman Gill for the recent season.
Among many interesting conversations, Ashwin, the senior India cricketer was asked about the upcoming five-match Test series against England by Harsha Bhogle and the veteran spinner didn’t think for even a second before saying, “Bazball for starters.” Bhogle interrupted him asking if Bazball was that big a reason for a senior cricketer like him too and Ashwin responded positively saying, “The kind of cricket they’ve been playing is amazing.” England head coach Brendon McCullum was seen smiling sheepishly, given the term is coined in his nickname, ‘Baz’.
“With this wonderful brand of cricket they are playing and the way they have come here with that fearless approach, I am standing here without knowing what to expect. That’s the beauty of Test cricket and I look forward to playing the Test series,” Ashwin further added.
Ashwin, who is 10 wickets away from the iconic 500 wickets landmark, admitted that he was excited about numbers and milestones at the start of his career but not anymore when asked if the one he is approaching was on his mind or not. Ashwin is likely to reach the milestone in the five-match series and will become the ninth bowler overall, the second Indian and the fifth spinner to reach the mark. The series kicks off