Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandra Ashwin sent shockwaves across the entire cricketing world when he announced his retirement from cricket in the middle of Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia earlier this month. While Ravichandra Ashwin made a statement to the press about his retirement, he refused to take any questions on the matter. However, the 37 year old had now finally broken his silence on international cricket retirement giving insights behind why he took the decision at this stage in his career.
Ravichandran Ashwin stunned the cricket world after the third India vs Australia Test in Brisbane as he announced his retirement from international cricket. Being the highest wicket-taker among active bowlers with 537 scalps, many expected R Ashwin, 38, to continue for some more time. However, he retired with two Tests left in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Notably, Ravichandran Ashwin is the 7th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 537 wickets in the 106 matches. In terms of Indian bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin is only behind Anil Kumble’s 619 wickets.
Ravichandran Ashwin played his last Test match against Australia in Adelaide, but he had not announced his retirement then. So, the legend did not get any guard of honor in that Test, but he previously received guard of honor from the Indian team during his 100th Test match in March 2024 against England.
Ravichandran Ashwin A legendary off spinner of Indian cricket
India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Wednesday surprised the cricketing world by announcing his retirement with immediate effect in the middle of the Test series against Australia. R Ashwin retires from the game as the second highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 537 scalps in 106 games, leaving him only behind Anil Kumble (619 wickets). He will continue to play club cricket. In his final press-conference, alongside an emotional India captain Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin broke his retirement news.
It was quite an emotional moment for Ravichandran Ashwin and his family at that time, and while giving guard of honor during his 100th test match, Rohit Sharma hugged Ashwin which created quite a news at that time.
R Ashwin took nine wickets in that Test match, with four in the first innings and five in the second and was going great guns before the New Zealand series. He could not live upto his billing in the New Zealand series, and that probably triggered his retirement call.
To possess 537 wickets, currently seventh in the all-time list, 37 five-wicket hauls, and 3503 runs with six hundreds, mark R Ashwin as a great in Tests. It is a format he embraced well even if his initial foray into the spotlight were through his spells in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In ODIs, R Ashwin bagged 156 wickets and made a belated comeback too, such was his zeal to compete. Ashwin also played 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is for India, taking 228 wickets across these two formats
R Ashwin is currently the seventh-highest Test wicket-taker of all time. Not just that, he also has six hundreds to his name in the longest format . R Ashwin’s mid-way retirement during the Australia series has brought back memories of similar decisions by MS Dhoni and Anil Kumble in the past. However, R Ashwin will continue to play in IPL as he has retired only from international cricket and was recently bought by CSK in IPL 2025 Mega Auction. Now, R Ashwin has broken a long silence on the reason behind his retirement.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast with Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, R Ashwin admitted to thinking about the retirement question a few times in his career but decided to take the call when his creative side did not see a future anymore.
Ravichandran Ashwin explains his decision to retire midway through BGT 2024-25
Recently retired Indian cricketer R Ashwin has revealed that he thought about retiring for quite a while before finally announcing it midway through the series against Australia. He said that he no longer saw any rise or a different direction in his creativity.
The 38-year-old shocked the fraternity by announcing his retirement immediately following the third Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane. His final Test was against Australia in Adelaide but was largely ineffective, managing a solitary wicket in 18 overs in the only innings he bowled.
Speaking to Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton on Sky Sports, here’s what the veteran said about his retirement:
“I did contemplate a few times. For me, the day I woke up and felt the creative side of me didn’t have a future or direction, that would be the day I would give it up. I suddenly felt that creative side didn’t have a lot of upsides to explore.”
R Ashwin also claimed that he wants to leave things behind calmly instead of being too insecure about them and always considers the game to be above him. He said:
“I’ve never been a person who holds onto things, I’ve never felt insecure in life. I don’t believe what is mine today is going to be mine tomorrow. That has probably been one of my elevating factors all these years.
“I always wanted to leave things behind as nonchalantly as I can because I do not believe in people celebrating me, I don’t believe in the attention we get sometimes in India. It is the game that always stood ahead of me, all the time.”
The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer was one of the chief architects of India’s unbeaten streak in the Test series at home from 2012-2024. In 65 Tests at home, he has claimed 383 scalps at 21.44 alongside 29 fifers and six 10-wicket hauls. the right-hander has also churned out 1989 runs, headlined by four centuries.
Ashwin also boasted about his ability to talk about the sport of cricket in massive ways due to how much he has explored it, adding:
“The amount of exploration I have had to do to be very successful has left me with a wide variety of knowledge to be able to say, with confidence, that this is a game I love and can explore and brutally talk about for the rest of my life.”
The 38-year-old will still continue to play in the IPL. He will play for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2025.