R Ashwin reveals why he had to quit IPL 2021 midway

Mumbai, May 28: Senior India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up about the sleepless nights he and his family had to go through during the battle against COVID-19.

The Tamil Nadu cricketer, who took a break from his IPL duties from his franchise Delhi Capitals to be with his family, has revealed almost every member in his family was affected due to the deadly pandemic.

"Almost everyone from my place had got affected due to Covid," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel on Thursday (May 27). "In fact, a few of my cousins also got admitted and were serious and they somehow recovered.

The off-spinner claimed that he couldn't sleep for almost eight-night days and he was really stressed. The 34-year-old admitted that he even played IPL matches without getting any sleep and that was a reason why he had to quit IPL midway.

"I couldn't sleep for almost eight-nine days. Since I couldn't sleep, it was really stressful for me. I was playing matches without getting any sleep. And since I found it really taxing, I had to quit IPL and go home midway. In fact, when I left around that time, I had thoughts on whether I will be able to play cricket thereafter. But still, I did what was required at that point in time. Anyway, after that, I thought there won't be any cricket for some time," Ashwin added further.

Ashwin added that his family went through a "testing time", which his wife had also described as a "nightmare of a week".

"In between, when people in my house started recovering, I thought of coming back into the IPL and that's when IPL was called off," he said.

Ashwin is currently in quarantine in Mumbai along with his Indian teammates. The Indian cricket team will leave for England on June 2 for World Test Championship Final followed by a 5-Test series against England.