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Follow UsRavichandran Ashwin has retired from international cricket out of nowhere.
If there’s one cricketer in India who you would know has an impeccable understanding of his worth and what he brings to the table, it had to be Ashwin. With a career as celebrated as his, he brought a tangible sense of gaiety to the line-up that often forgets its own caricature. And that sense of worth was what led the Indian team to unprecedented heights. Coupled with Ravindra Jadeja, India became a frontier no one ever dared to breach.
All of it came crashing down in Mumbai, where New Zealand completed a 3-0 annihilation in November, virtually shaking the foundation on which the edifice of Indian cricket’s Test success was built. Ashwin? He ended up with nine wickets in three Tests at an average of 41.22. No fifers. In a series in which Washington Sundar picked up 16 wickets in just two games, Ashwin was nowhere close to his best.
But that wasn’t the only reason behind Ashwin’s sudden departure from the national team. If anything, it might have just escalated the decision - but for a cricket nerd who loves playing the sport more than anyone else, it was a decision that hinges on the line of practicality.
Since Gautam Gambhir took over as the Head Coach of the Indian team, he has been all cosy and comfy about the seniors in the side. Even though Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have failed to hold on to their side of the bargain, failing to score more often than not, the head coach has been backing them in public, as any good coach should. But for Gambhir to be comfortable planning the team’s transition to a new future, something had to give in.
No one can say with any degree of certainty how many heads would roll after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ends, but it’d be difficult to rule out if Ashwin’s decision didn’t come from that position of thinking. Even skipper Rohit Sharma’s statement after Ashwin’s announcement hinted at the team’s plans without having him at their disposal.
"I heard when I came to Perth,” Rohit said. “Obviously, I was not there for the first three or four days of the first Test match, but this was in his mind since then, and there are obviously a lot of things that went behind it. I'm pretty sure Ash will be in a position to answer that, but he understands what the team is thinking, he understands what kind of combinations we are thinking, and when we came here as well, we were not sure about which spinner is going to play. We just wanted to assess and see what kind of conditions we get in front of us.
"But when I arrived in Perth, this was a chat we had, and I somehow convinced him to stay for the pink-ball Test match, and then, it just happened so that if he felt that I'm not needed right now in the series, I'm better off saying goodbye to the game.”
Aswhin is 38. By the time the next cycle of the World Test Championship begins, he’d be nearing 39. Even accounting for his fitness and availability, that doesn’t take away the fact that India will be better served with Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar to partner with Ravindra Jadeja going forward. Having Ashwin continue was always going to be a challenge, and one couldn’t fault the management for thinking in that direction.
None of that, however, will take it away from him that he was perhaps India’s greatest match-winner in Tests. With him in the side, oppositions were never at peace. India wouldn’t have become the domineering force in world cricket without him holding the ball aloft - precisely, making life difficult for batters in India.
That he wants to go back and play club cricket tells you how much of his life’s worth is attached to the sport. It is the game that excited him. So it is not a surprise that he still wants to continue to bowl for Tamil Nadu with the same vigour or just turn up for Dindigul Dragons and spit fire with the ball. Indian cricket will struggle to have another Ashwin. But for now, it's a decision that makes sense.
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