Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest bowlers the country has ever produced. With more than 750 international wickets for India, the off-spinner brought the curtain down on a glorious career following the end of the Gabba Test against Australia. Keeping it short and simple, Ashwin stated that his time as an international cricketer for India “has come to an end”, but he still has enough “punch” left.
Ashwin took the flight from Brisbane and landed in India on Thursday morning. The 38-year-old has now given a sneak peek into what his final day as an international cricketer looked like.
The man revealed that he FaceTimed with Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. This is not the end, as Ashwin also got a WhatsApp call from Kapil Dev, the 1983 World Cup-winning captain.
Ashwin shared the call log on social media, and along with it, he wrote a simple but beautiful message. “If some one told me 25 years ago that I would have a smart phone with me and the call log on the last day of my career as an Indian cricketer would look like this, would have had a heart attack then only. Thanks, @sachin_rt and @therealkapildev paaji,” Ashwin wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier, Kapil Dev had reacted to Ashwin’s retirement, saying the spinner did not get the farewell he deserved. “The next generation has to be better than us. If not, the world is not going ahead. We never imagined that somebody would come close to Sachin Tendulkar or Sunil Gavaskar…Ashwin has gone. I wish I had been there, I wouldn’t have let him go like that. I would have sent him with a lot of respect and happiness,” he said.
Expectedly, Ashwin also spoke with his father shortly after he announced his retirement. It is important to state that Ashwin landed in Chennai on Thursday morning. He received a hero’s welcome at his home.
Soon after, Ashwin’s father gave an interview to an outlet, saying Ashwin might have retired after feeling ‘humiliated’. The former India spinner also took to X to urge people not to take his father’s comments seriously as he is not “media-trained”. He also asked journalists to leave his dad “alone.”
Ashwin receives glowing tributes
Since Ashwin retired from international cricket, the premier off-spinner has received glowing tributes from former and current cricketers. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Gautam Gambhir also posted heartfelt messages for the 38-year-old.
Ashwin called time on his international career, finishing as one of the biggest match-winners the country has ever produced. He is second only to Anil Kumble in wicket-taking charts for Indian bowlers.
Ashwin, who is known for adding new tricks to his sleeve, is currently the highest-taking off-spinner in Tests. However, Australia’s Nathan Lyon will soon break his record.
The off-spinner has the most number of Player of Series Awards (11) when it comes to men’s Test cricket.
Along with 537 Test wickets, Ashwin also has 6 hundreds in the longest format. Quite often in the past, he has bailed the team out of difficult situations with the bat, with the most recent occasion being the Test match against Bangladesh in Chennai, where he scored a hundred.
Ashwin was also a part of the 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy winning squads. He won the ICC Cricketer of the Year and ICC Men’s Test Cricket of the Year awards in 2016.
