On Wednesday, Ajinkya Rahane of the Indian team wrote an emotional farewell note to Ravichandran Ashwin, who announced his retirement from international cricket. Ashwin surprised many as he joined the captain of India, Rohit Sharma, in officially announcing his retirement. Fans had a feeling that something was wrong as the cameras were trained on a very warm moment between Ashwin and Virat Kohli on the last day of the Test. Ashwin was quite emotional and Kohli gave him a warm hug, pointing to the nature of the announcement to come.
Since then, however, the news of Ashwin’s retirement has inspired a deluge of wishes by the thousands, heralding a life of excellence that has been created in a career.
On the official X handle of his own, Rahane spoke of being at slip while Ashwin bowled, that it was unforgettable for him, but he also wished Ashwin all there was to wish for in his future endeavours.
“Wins like this are what a journey is all about, @ashwinravi99! Standing at slip was never boring with you bowling, every ball felt like a chance waiting to happen. All the success in the next chapter,” Rahane posted on X.
Ashwin made his debut Test appearance in the year 2011 against the West Indies and from there started a history-making career in red-ball cricket. He played 106 Tests, bagging a whopping 537 wickets, including 37 five-wicket-hauls, and accumulated a score of 3,503 runs.
Over his long career of over 13 years, Ashwin has played 23 Tests against Australia, economics having 115 wickets at an economy rate of 2.71. The veteran, aged 38, has been the record holder for the maximum wickets in a Border-Gavaskar Trophy edition-29-in the 2020-21 edition.
He has set records in the longest format of the game that may take quite a long time to topple. He is the fastest Indian bowler to notch up 350 Test wickets and occupies the No. 2 position in the all-time list for India’s highest wicket-takers in Tests-both have collected 537 dismissals at an economy rate of 2.83.
