Ravichandran Ashwin lauded Rohit Sharma’s role in arranging a chartered flight when his mother had to be hospitalised during the Rajkot Test against England.

“I was crying in my room and as I wasn’t picking calls and Rohit and Rahul (Dravid) bhai came to check on me and all I told them was I couldn’t think clearly.

“I am a part of the XI and the game hangs in the balance and if I leave the squad, they will be left with 10 people against a full-strength squad. At the other end, I was thinking about the last time I spoke to my mother,” an emotional Ashwin, who took his 500th Test wicket in Rajkot, recalled on his YouTube channel.

“I just wanted to leave and see her and I asked the doctor how she was and if she was conscious. The doctor told me she was not in a position to be seen and I was tearing up and searching for a flight and I couldn’t get one,” he said.

“Rajkot airport closes at 6 pm and there are no flights after that and I didn’t know what to do. Rohit literally asked me to stop thinking, and leave to be there with my family, and he was trying to arrange a chartered flight for me,” Ashwin said.

“He takes 10 steps for a player and a player can give his life for him.”

Rohit also arranged for team physio Kamlesh Jain to accompany Ashwin so that he wasn’t left alone with negative thoughts.