India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shocked the world when he announced his international retirement 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.
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.
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 asked the need for a cricketer like Ashwin to feel the time has come when he still had a lot to give in international cricket.
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 but finally decided when he thought his creativity could no longer be fulfilled.
“There is always that question that lies inside you. You keep asking yourself, ‘Am I making this decision the right way?’ In my case, it was slightly different. I do not know how to exactly position this. 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,” said Ashwin.
“I always wanted to leave things behind as nonchalantly as I could 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,” he added.
Did ‘contemplate’ retirement a few times
While speaking on the podcast, Ashwin, who has 537 Test wickets to his name, said that he did think about retirement a few times, but called time on his career after realising that the creative side of his “didn’t have a future.”
“I did contemplate [retirement] 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 the creative side didn’t have a lot of upsides to explore,” said Ashwin.
Ashwin also played 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is for India, taking 228 wickets across these two formats. After announcing retirement, the seasoned off-spinner shared a screenshot revealing that he received calls from Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev.
“I’ve got no regrets because I’ve had to do it the hard way, but it has left me with the idea that the game has been my calling. People find their calling at different stages of their life, but I’m so glad this game found me and has given me meaning to life,” said Ashwin.
“I’ve played Test cricket for so long, and it’s even taught me how to construct and live my life. It’s the most beautiful thing that has happened for me,” he added.
