File photo of Ravichandran Ashwin© AFP
Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden retirement left the cricket world stunned. The veteran off-spinner decided to call time on his career in the middle of the series. As India pulled off a dramatic draw in the third Test against Australia in Brisbane, Ashwin’s decision became the biggest talking point. While Ashwin himself called it an instinctive decision, fans and pundits have been coming up with their theories on the big decision. Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra feels seeing Washington Sundar being picked ahead of him in the series opener at Perth helped Ashwin make up his mind on the topic of retirement.
“What exactly has happened? There is a moment in everyone’s life, where you think, do I want to do this anymore? Am I OK with it? Ashwin must have had this in his mind for a long time that he does not play much overseas. He is not the no.1 spin option when it comes to overseas games. This was going on for quite some time. He made peace with it. Jaddu was always ahead of him overseas. So, he made peace with it that Jadeja is playing,” said Chopra on his YouTube Channel.
India captain Rohit Sharma revealed that he convinced Ashwin to stay at least till the pink-ball Test, which the veteran spinner featured in, but seeing him being dropped again in Brisbane, Ashwin decided to quit.
“But when Sundar played the Perth Test, then he said, that’s it, I am done. Ashwin played the Pink-ball Test but when he was dropped from Gabba, he said, he was done. You are not serious in playing me in the XI. I did nothing wrong in Pink-ball Test to be dropped from the Gabba game. In Gabba, Jaddu made runs so Ashwin was unlikely to feature in Melbourne,” Chopra reasoned.
Ashwin’s father also spoke on the topic of his son’s retirement, saying he was being humiliated in the team. However, Ashwin brushed aside the statement made by his father, saying he isn’t “media trained”.
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