Nonetheless, there are many theories on the reasons behind his abrupt departure from the biggest stage. Following the formal announcement of Ashwin’s call, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma offered their remarks.
When seasoned player Ravichandran Ashwin made the unexpected decision to hang his boots on the international scene across formats right after the Brisbane Test ended, it was highly unexpected. Ashwin claims that December 18, 2024, was his “last day” as an Indian representative. After expressing gratitude to his colleagues and reflecting on his international experience, he made it clear that he would be willing to play in franchise leagues and club cricket.
Recently, Virat Kohli, who debuted in Test cricket the same year as Ashwin (2011), wrote on X that he first learnt about the spin-bowling maestro’s retirement on Wednesday.
“I’ve played with you for 14 years and when you told me today you’re retiring, it made me a bit emotional and the flashbacks of all those years playing together came to me,” he wrote in a tweet.
Although Kohli said he learnt Ashwin will retire the day after the third Test on Wednesday, he did not say if he had any prior knowledge of Ashwin’s consideration of retirement before the beginning of the series.
At the news conference held after the game, however, captain Rohit Sharma’s remarks suggested an entirely different story. In Perth, the location of the first Test match when Ashwin was not selected, Rohit stated that he had heard about the situation. Ashwin only played in one game, the day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval, and he added that Rohit was the one who persuaded him to stay put.
When I visited Perth, the site of the first Test match where Ashwin was left off the roster in the final week of November, I heard this. For the first three or four days of the Test match, I was obviously absent. But ever since, this has been on his mind. We were also unsure of which spinner would be playing when we arrived here. We simply wanted to evaluate and observe the conditions that we encounter. We had a conversation like this when I first got to Perth. During the post-match news conference, Rohit revealed, “I somehow persuaded him to stay for that pink-ball Test match.”
Even worse, according to a report by the Press Trust of India, Ashwin considered retiring following the home series against New Zealand. It has been revealed by The Indian Express that Ashwin told his family members long before he ever boarded the plane to Australia.
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