Ravichandran Ashwin says he always had respect for Rohit Sharma's leadership, but he also got a first hand experience of his skipper's empathy and golden heart when he went all out to help him get back to Chennai following his mother's hospitalisation during the third Test in Rajkot.
Hours after becoming only the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to take 500 Test wickets, Ashwin rushed back to his home in Chennai after coming to know that his mother Chitra had been hospitalised following a blackout.
Ashwin revealed how he was left in tears after his wife Prithi broke out the news of his mother's hospitalisation.
"I kind of blanked out. I didn't know how to react, what questions to ask or anything. I was crying, but I was trying to make sure nobody saw me crying. It is unnecessary to think of it that way, but it was instinctive. I just couldn't think. I was crying in my room for some time," he said on his YouTube channel.
The off-spinner says he found it strange that no one from his family called him to congratulate on the 500 wickets after the end of play.
"We went to the dressing room for the debrief and went back to our rooms. Rohit, me and some others were just discussing some things about the match and that is when I realised that I am not getting any calls or messages from my parents or my wife to congratulate me. I thought maybe they are busy attending calls and giving interviews.
So when I called my wife around 7pm before going to shower when my parents weren't picking up my call, I found her voice was a bit shaky. She asked me to move away from my team-mates before she told me me that my mother had collapsed after a headache."
The Tamil Nadu spinner said how Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid were the first ones to support him during the crisis. Infact, Cheteshwar Pujara was the one who arranged for the chartered flight since there are no commercial flights operating from Rajkot after 6pm
"I was alone in my room and I was not picking up my call somy wife told the team physio to go and check on me. After that Rohit Sharma and Rahul bhai both came to check on me and I just told them that I couldn't think clearly.
I am part of the XI and the game hangs in the balance. If I leave for home we will have only 10 players fighting against a full-strength England, who had the upper hand then with the series also at 1-1 and if I go then we will a bowler short.
"At the same time, I was on another track thinking of the last time when I spoke with my mother. I just wanted to leave to see her and then come back. I asked how she was and if she was conscious at that time but the doctor apparently told me that she was not in a position to be seen. I lost it."
"I was searching for flights, but I couldn't get one. The Rajkot airport closes down at 6pm as there are no flights after that. I didn't know what to do.
"Rohit and Rahul bhai came to my room. Rohit literally asked me to stop thinking anymore. He told me to leave and be there with the family and he was trying to arrange a chartered flight for me. A big thank you to Cheteshwar Pujara. He somehow found flights in Ahmedabad and made it here to Rajkot for me to travel in. I didn't know how those two hours on the flight went by."
Rohit also made sure that Ashwin had some support on his journey back as he asked Kamles Jain and one of the security officers to accompany the spinner.
"Meanwhile Rohit did something else. The team physio Kamlesh is a very good friend of mine. Rohit asked Kamlesh to fly with me to Chennai and be with me. Kamlesh was one of the two physios with the team and I asked him to stay back with the team for the Test match.
But when I down to the hotel lobby, Kamlesh and a security person were already standing there and waiting for me. Kamlesh got a call from Rohit on our ride towards the airport checking up on me and literally asking me to be with him during this tough time. It was 9.30pm that night. I was just gobsmacked. I cannot even imagine the gesture from Rohit because these two people are the only ones I could talk to, else I would be all alone."
I just thought, if I were the captain, I would also ask a player in such a situation to go back home, no second thoughts about it. But I am not sure if I would be calling up people to check on him, so that was something unbelievable from Rohit!"
Ashwin can't thank Rohit enough for his kind gesture.
"I see an outstanding leader in Rohit Sharma. I have played with so many captains over the years but it is his good heart that has made Rohit what he is today. He has won five IPL titles as many as Dhoni. God doesn't give easily. I hope Rohit achieves something even bigger than all this. I pray to God for him.
In a selfish society, a man who thinks about someone else's well-being is a rarity. My respect for him grew tremendously after that. I already had respect for him as a leader, he backs a player till the very end which is not easy, even Dhoni does that. But Rohit takes 10 steps more. When it gets this personal, a player can give his life for him."
