Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s esteemed off-spinner, has announced his retirement from international cricket.
The 38-year-old made this decision following the drawn third Test against Australia in Brisbane. Ashwin, who did not participate in the match, expressed his intention to continue playing at the club level, stating, “I do feel there’s a bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I would like to showcase that in club level cricket.”
Ashwin was incredibly secure and confident in his ability to land the ball where he wanted it to land, and so he pushed the art to its limits with other things. Different run-ups, different load-ups, different seam orientations, different balls altogether, while always landing the ball where he wanted it to.
He wanted to bat, he wanted to bowl fast, he wanted to captain, he wanted to organise matches. When injury put Ashwin the boy out of commission, he wanted to be involved even if it meant scoring. He wanted to share the ride with you all so he started his YouTube channel even while he played without any commercial arrangement.
Most importantly he wanted to do all there was to be done in what was his bread and butter. Most of us Indians don’t experiment lest we end up losing what we have earned through blood, sweat and tears, and luck, in a country as fiercely competitive as India. But Ashwin did everything there was to be done in the department of offspin bowling. Pundits kept telling him he experiments too much. That offspin is about doing the one same thing all your life. That he will lose his stock ball if he keeps, in his own words, “monkeying around”. Then what will he do?
When he was still not an offspinner yet, he almost quit cricket because of language barriers at a national Under-17 camp. Back then, at all levels of national cricket, anybody from south India had to learn whatever Hindi they could to survive in the dressing room. It was a shock to Ashwin that nobody could even sense his discomfort.
Yet he loved the game and the competition so much that once he was over the initial shock, Ashwin went and enrolled himself in private Hindi classes. After a point, he didn’t see it as a political or a cultural issue. He saw it as a problem, and he had to solve it practically.
Throughout his illustrious 14-year career, Ashwin amassed 537 wickets in 106 Test matches, averaging 24. This remarkable achievement places him as the second-highest wicket-taker among Indian bowlers in Test Cricket, just behind Anil Kumble’s 619 wickets. In addition to his bowling prowess, Ashwin contributed with the bat, scoring six centuries and maintaining an average of 25.75.
In One-Day Internationals (ODIs), Ashwin claimed 156 wickets at an average of 33.20 across 116 matches, and in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), he took 72 wickets at an average of 23.22 in 65 games.
He was part of the Indian squad that clinched the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy where he bowled the last winning ball of tournament.
Some heartfelt reactions from the cricketing community.
Former captain Virat Kohli expressed his emotions, stating, “I’ve played with you for 14 years and when you told me today you’re retiring, it made me a bit emotional and the flashbacks of all those years playing together came to me.” He further lauded Ashwin’s contributions, saying, “Your skill and match-winning contributions to Indian cricket are second to none and you will always and always be remembered as a legend of Indian cricket.”
India coach Gautam Gambhir, who played alongside Ashwin, wrote on X: “The privilege of seeing you grow from a young bowler to a legend of modern cricket is something that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
“We know that generations of bowlers to come will say that I became a bowler because of Ashwin.”
Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, also paid tribute to Ashwin, remarking, “He’s obviously been a fantastic player all around the world. There aren’t that many finger spinners that have that kind of longevity.” He added, “There’s a massive respect from our changing room for the career that he’s had.”
One of the Ashwin’s first coaches, Sunil Subramaniam: “His hunger to ask tough questions fascinated me.”
“Ashwin’s decision to retire marks the end of a distinguished era in Indian cricket, characterized by his exceptional skill, consistency, and significant contributions to the team’s successes over the years.“
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