Ravichandran Ashwin Announces Retirement From International Cricket
In a stunning development, India allrounder Ravichandran Ashwin has announced retirement from international cricket. Ashwin, one of the greatest cricketers to have represented India, draws curtains on his career having taken 765 wickets across format.
Ashwin broke the news while interacting with the media in Brisbane on Wednesday, accompanying India captain Rohit Sharma for the press conference.
“This will be my last year as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level,” Ashwin said. “I feel there’s a little bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I’d like to express that, showcase that in club-level cricket. I’ve had a lot of fun. I have made a lot of memories alongside Rohit and several of my team-mates, even though we’ve lost some of them (to retirements) over the last few years. We’re the last bunch of OGs, we can say that. I will be marking this as my date of having played at this level.
“Obviously there are a lot of people to thank, but I will be failing in my duties if I didn’t thank the BCCI and fellow team-mates,” he added.
The Adelaide Test between India and Australia of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy thus becomes Ashwin’s final match of international career.
“We as teammates have to respect it. He was very sure of what he wanted to do. Team has complete backing of his though process. There’s a gap for us as a team to recollect our thoughts. We can think about how to proceed further. He was very very sure of this decision,” said Rohit.
Ashwin made his international debut in June 2010 with an ODI against Sri Lanka in Harare. In the same month, he played his first T20I, against Zimbabwe in Harare.
He played his first Test against West Indies in November 2011 and went on to become one of an all-time great. He finishes his Test career with 537 wickets from 106 Tests at an average of 24. He took 37 five-wicket hauls and eight times finished with 10 wickets in a Test.
His record of 37 fifers is the joint-second most in Test cricket history alongside the late Shane Warne.
The 38-year-old Ashwin retires as India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test history. With 11 player-of-the-series awards, the Indian is level on Muttiah Muralitharan for having won the most such awards in Test history.
The offie also took 156 wickets in 116 ODIs and 72 scalps in 65 T20Is.
Besides his incredible numbers as a bowler, Ashwin also tasted success as a batter. He scored 3503 runs in Tests with the help of six centuries and 14 fifties.
Notably, Ashwin is one of only 11 allrounders in Test history to have completed the double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets.
