The veteran off-spin all-rounder of India, Ravichandran Ashwin, has made a shocking retirement from international cricket after the end of the third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Gabba in Brisbane. He came to the press conference with the captain, Rohit Sharma, to make the announcement.
During the presser, one of the reporters speculated the same fate for the two other veterans of India in the longest format, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, to which Rohit was taken aback and urged them to stop speculations around the potential retirements of Pujara and Rahane.
Ashwin will go down as the most successful spinner for India across formats with 765 wickets, out of which 537 came in the red-ball format. The Tamil Nadu-born now has played his final game for the Blue Brigade at the Adelaide Oval, which they went on to lose by ten wickets.
Watch: Rohit Sharma stunned with claims of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara retiring for India
The journalists asked the Indian captain if he would miss Ashwin just like he has felt the absence of Rahane and Pujara in the side.
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“Bilkul. Itna experience hai unke paas. Itne matches unhone jitaaye hain toh kahin na kahin, abhi aapko kisi left ya right mein dekhna hai toh yeh log nahin rahenge. By the way Ajinkya Rahane retire nahin hua hai. Aap mereko marwaaoge yaar. Pujara bhi retirement announce nahin kiya hai yaar.” The Ngpur-born claimed.
— Lolzzz (@CricketerMasked) December 18, 2024
The last Test match for the Mumbai batter came during the Port Of Spain Test in 2023 against the West Indies, as he has been out of the national side for more than a year. The right-handed batter has smashed over 5000 runs in the five-day format with the help of an average of 38.46 and a strike rate of around 50, shouldering on 12 centuries and 26 half-centuries at the best score of 188.
Pujara’s last red-ball encounter was during the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 at the Kennington Oval in London. The right-handed batter has collected 7195 runs in 176 innings at an average of 43.60 and a strike rate of 44, with the help of 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 206 runs.
Rohit reckoned that if both these batters performed in the domestic red-ball competition, then they could certainly make a return to the red-ball side. Pujara, just like that, was part of the four rounds of the Ranji Trophy, where he drilled a 234-run knock against Chhattisgarh in Rajkot, besides struggling with 35 runs in the five other innings.
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India’s batting has struggled so much in the ongoing BGT series. Pujara, on the other hand, has enjoyed the condition of Australia with 993 Test runs in 11 games at an average of 47.28 and a strike rate of around 37 with five half-centuries and three centuries at the best score of 193 at the SCG.
Rahane has also looked good in the first half of the Ranji Trophy. Ut the question stands if they would make a return for the last two games of the series.
