Indian cricket icon Ravi Ashwin has shed light on his decision to retire from international cricket during India's tour of Australia in 2024/25. Ashwin had sent shockwaves around the cricketing world when he bid adieu to international cricket after the third Test match in Brisbane.
Ashwin, one of the biggest match-winners for India in the Test format, has confirmed that he had contemplated retirement thoughts twice before finally calling it time. He stated that he wanted to retire after featuring in his 100th Test in Chennai against Bangladesh but changed his thoughts.
The veteran opened up on his retirement thoughts during a podcast with Mike Hussey. "To be very honest, I wanted to do it after my 100th Test. And then I thought, Ok, let me give it a go in the home season. Because, I mean, you’re playing well and you’re getting wickets, you’re making runs. So I thought it does make sense to play a bit. I was having a lot of fun, but the whole hard yards that I had to put through to put myself on the park again, physically and mentally, one of the most important things for me that was pulling me down was the family time," Ashwin said in the podcast show Mike Testing 123.
The spin-bowling maestro said that he thought of going to Australia as he had great memories of the last tour Down Under. However, he stated that the first Test snub in Perth made him emotional.
"I thought I’ll probably close off (with) the Chennai Test here. I ended up getting a six-wicket haul and a hundred. So it’s very tough to quit when you’re doing very well. So, I went on with the series and we lost against New Zealand. So one after the other, it was just building up. And then I thought, okay, let me go to Australia. Let me see how this goes.
"Because the last time I was in Australia, I had a great, great tour. And when I didn’t start in Perth, it was like, okay, this whole circle keeps going again. People add very little value to what you’re going through emotionally. They don’t really consider that because your emotions are yours and it doesn’t matter to anybody else. So I had been contemplating that and then I thought, okay, maybe it is time," he said
