Felt crushed when Ravi Shastri called Kuldeep Yadav India's best overseas spinner: Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin said he felt 'absolutely crushed' when Ravi Shastri dubbed Kuldeep Yadav as India's best overseas spinner over him two years ago.

Shastri had said after Kuldeep's five-wicket haul in the rain-affected New Year Test in Sydney: "Kuldeep becomes our primary overseas spinner. Going ahead, if we have to play one spinner, he is the one we will pick." On Ashwin's injury woes over the last year, Shastri had said, "There is a time for everyone."

Addressing those statements, Ashwin told Cricket Monthly on Tuesday: "In that moment I felt crushed. Absolutely crushed. We all talk about how important it is to enjoy your team-mates' success. And I was happy for Kuldeep... But if I feel like I am being thrown under the bus, how am I supposed to get up and come for a party to enjoy the team's or team-mate's success?"

Ashwin added that he did not hold any ill-will towards Shastri, but instead focused on trying to enjoy his game more. He said he even contemplated retirement between 2018 and 2020 and did not watch India's limited-overs matches for eight months..

"So like in the case of Ravi bhai and how crushed I was, I know a lot of people with such experiences would hold it against him forever, but I'm not one of them. Because anybody can make a mistake. So I've started seeing things beyond people. People can change their opinions," Ashwin said.