Ravichandran Ashwin took everyone by surprise when he announced his retirement from international cricket after the third India vs Australia Test in Brisbane. The highest wicket-taker among all active bowlers with 537 scalps has many expectations on 38-year-old Ashwin to continue for at least some more time, but he retired with two Tests remaining in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy. It was something that was pretty starkly contradictory to that which very few could understand, and that by none less than the great Sunil Gavaskar himself. He was under-utilized in only one of the first three Tests in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Later, India captain Rohit Sharma added, “It just happened so that if you know where he felt that, ‘if I’m not needed right now in the series, I’m better off”.
Now, Ashwin has broken a long silence regarding the reasons for his retirement.
“If you ask me, I’ve never been that person who clings on to things, I’m far from feeling insecure in life,” he said on Sky Sports. “What I have today is not necessarily going to be mine tomorrow, and that has probably been one of the elevating factors all through these years.
“I’ve always wanted to leave things like that – the most nonchalant as I can because I don’t think people should celebrate anything regarding me; I don’t buy a lot of the attention we get sometimes in India. The game is what stood ahead of me, always in that context.
“I contemplated it a few times; it was one such time. For me, on the day I woke up when I felt that the creative side of me did not have a future or direction, that would be the day I would give it all up. And at that point, I suddenly felt like that creative side didn’t have a lot of potentials to explore.”
According to Ashwin, his love for the game has given his life meaning. “I put it all in, knowing very well that this is not quite really the way it’s typically done,” he said. “Fully mine is my journey.”
“Honestly, I’ve seen many cricketers in their prime over the years, who are quite talented and skilled, but the ability to teach or talk about it is something really personal and gets communicated to people only when they have gone through it.”
“I have very little exploration to do to know it very well, but once done, I can say with confidence that this is a game that I love and can go and talk about very brutally for the rest of my life.” “I’m not sorry for taking the hard path but that may have to do with the game being my calling.
People have different calls in life, but I can say that I’m thankful this game found me, as it has given me meaning to life.” “Now I’ve played my Test cricket for so many years that it’s even taught me how to build and live life; the most beautiful thing happened for me.”
