Ravichandran Ashwin performed admirably on the final two balls under duress, but Virat Kohli was certainly the Indian team's hero. India needed two runs off of one ball as Ashwin came to bat. He refrained from trying anything theatrical and chose to leave the Mohammad Nawaz ball, giving India an additional run through wide. In a video posted to BCCI.TV, Ashwin joked about retiring and wondered, "What if that Nawaz ball had turned?"

The Indo-Pak match ended up being a nail-biter with numerous game-changing twists and turns. Mohammad Nawaz had to put up a strong effort for Pakistan because India needed to score 16 runs in the final 6 balls to win. If he hadn't bowled a no-ball, the spinner could have helped Pakistan win the match. Nawaz made a remarkable comeback by dismissing Dinesh Karthik on the last delivery of the over despite the no-ball and the ensuing free-hit. However, the strain finally came to him on what ought to have been the last delivery, but Ashwin displayed his foresight by leaving the ball for a wide.

Speaking of the incident to BCCI.tv, Ashwin said: "Somebody asked me if that Nawaz ball had turned and hit you on the pads, what would you have done?. I said I would've quickly rushed to the dressing room picked up my Twitter and said 'Thank you for all the great times I have had in my cricketing career. It was a wonderful journey (laughs)'."

On the game's final ball, Ashwin maintained his composure. He successfully completed the run chase as India took a single after he shot the ball over the mid-off defender. Many people on social media have praised the off-batting spinner's performance. Even Virat Kohli claimed that when Ashwin left the Nawaz ball for wide, he used "Dimag ke upar extra dimag." This maturity is presumably why Yuzvendra Chahal was passed up for Ashwin in the crucial encounter.