'My wife asked if I have man crush on Steve Smith': Ashwin's obsession to decode Aussie star left Prithi 'concerned'

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series has witnessed some of the most iconic individual rivalries in Test cricket. In the modern era, one of them was between Australia's Steve Smith and former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The 11-year-long battle ended with the Adelaide pink ball Test last December, after which the Indian announced his retirement from international cricket. But having emerged on top in the contest, Ashwin opened up about his obsession, which had left his wife Prithi "concerned." Steve Smith (L) and Ravichandran Ashwin.(AP/PTI)

The rivalry began in 2013, with Ashwin having dismissed Smith only once in 355 balls across two series, during which the latter scored 216 runs. However, the Indian eventually cracked the cod, after which there was no looking back. Over the next three series, he dismissed Smith seven times for 218 runs.

Three of those dismissals came during India's 2020/21 tour of Australia, as Ashwin revealed that before leaving home for the series, he spent countless hours watching Smith bat, zooming in on his hands to carefully decode each of his techniques and routines, which left his wife thinking if he had a crush on the Aussie.

"I can't even remember how many times I watched Steve Smith bat at home. I used to zoom in on his hands on TV. My wife and kids were at home, I don't think I saw them properly for a few days. My wife watches from behind and asks if I have a man crush on Smith. She was concerned," Ashwin said at the AWS AI Conclave 2025 in Bengaluru.

How Ashwin disrupted Smith's technique?

The 38-year-old revealed that through those countless hours of research, he found that all he needed was to disrupt his hand movement during his unorthodox batting technique. He exemplified it by recalling the dismissal in the Adelaide Test of the 2020-21 series.

"Smith had an unorthodox technique that his hand needed to come down at a certain time, it was weird. I found that if I can disturb his technique. I thought of not jumping but instead, loading and delivering the ball. I delivered that ball in Adelaide. He was late on it and nicked it to slip," the spinner added.

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