Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden retirement has shocked the entire sporting world. The sudden retirement announcement of the right-arm off-spinner has generated a lot of speculation in the sporting world. Now, the actual reason behind Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement has been revealed by the off-spinner who as it seems wants to put an end to the brewing speculations around his retirement.
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shocked the world when he announced his retirement from international cricket after the third Test against Australia at Gabba, Brisbane. The off-spinner opened up on his decision, saying he wanted to leave things “nonchalantly.” The 38-year-old brought the curtain down on his 14-year-long career in which he took 765 international wickets across all three formats of the game.
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. Ravichandran 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 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.
Ravichandran 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, 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
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.
Ravichandran 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, Ravichandran 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.
Not many retire, with people questioning the timing of it. However, Ashwin’s case is totally different as several legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Erapalli Prasanna, and Kapil Dev wondered what led Ashwin to take the call. Erapalli Prasanna also said that Ashwin wasn’t treated “very well” and his retirement was a “sad day for Indian cricket.”
While speaking to Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Ashwin revealed that he had considered retirement earlier as well but finally decided when he thought his creativity could no longer be fulfilled.
Ravichandran Ashwin opens up about the one regret in his life post his retirement
Retired Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on the regret he has from his illustrious career. The veteran witnessed a series loss at home to England early in his career. He revealed that he still remembers how Kevin Pietersen took on India’s spin-bowling attack in Mumbai in the 2012 series.
Helped chiefly by Cheteshwar Pujara’s 135, India reached a total of 327 in their first innings. Visiting captain Alastair Cook played a gritty knock of 122. However, the highlight of the innings was Pietersen’s 233-ball 186 as all three spinners in Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, and Pragyan Ojha struggled. It helped set up a 10-wicket win for England.
Speaking to Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports, the 38-year-old admitted that he had got his bowling technicality all wrong in that series.
“I have one regret in life. I know KP is a very proud man, I’ve seen him talk a lot about how he took us down in Mumbai. Very early in my career, in the formative years, things on the technical side that went wrong put me on the path of excellence. I wanted to take on KP every single time after that.”
Ashwin also hailed Cook as one of the best he bowled to, saying:
“He’s a wonderful batter but anyone that didn’t have a really sound defence was someone I fancied because I’m very good at picking up players who step out, players who sweep. In that particular series against KP and Alastair Cook, one of the finest batters I’ve bowled to, my alignments were so bad.”
With England winning their first series on Indian soil in 28 years, the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer endured one of the worst series of his career. In four Tests, he managed only 14 wickets at 52.64.
Ever since 2012, it was all about finding different solutions” – Ravichandran Ashwin
Nevertheless, the off-spinner believes that particular series was a precursor to him becoming a world-class performer in the next 10 years.
“For the rest of my career, ever since 2012, it was all about finding different solutions. I’m very grateful for the series going that way, because if it hadn’t happened, I might not have set myself on the path to excel as a bowler because to excel as bowler it’s very internal rather than external.”
With 537 wickets in 106 Tests, the champion cricketer is the most prolific off-spinner produced by India.