Dubai: Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect following the end of the third Test against Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday.
An astute student of the game, who tries to win the game mentally with spending time in preparation, however left the media stumped when he joined skipper Rohit Sharma in the post-match press conference to announce his decision, which comes into immediate effect.
“This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level,” Ashwin said after the Brisbane Test at a press conference. “I feel there’s a little bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I’d like to express that, showcase that in club-level cricket.
“I’ve had a lot of fun. I have made a lot of memories alongside Rohit [Sharma] and several of my teammates, even though we’ve lost some of them [to retirements] over the last few years. We’re the last bunch of OGs, we can say that. I will be marking this as my date of having played at this level.
Illustrious career
“Obviously there are a lot of people to thank, but I will be failing in my duties if I didn’t thank the BCCI and fellow teammates. I want to name a few of them, some of the coaches who have been part of the journey. Most importantly, Rohit, Virat [Kohli], Ajinkya [Rahane], [Cheteshwar] Pujara, who have taken some of the catches around the bat and given me the number of wickets I’ve managed to get over the years.”
The 38-year-old Tamil Nadu all-rounder ends his illustrious career as India's second-highest wicket-taker in Tests, with 537 wickets at an average of 24 in 106 Tests. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble leads the tally after finishing with 619 wickets from 132 Tests. Ashwin, an Engineering graduate in Information Technology, also has six centuries to his credit.
Ashwin will now focus on club cricket and will be eager to don the yellow jersey again after returning to the Chennai Super Kings, where he began his career, for the Indian Premier League 2025 season. Ashwin ending his career had similarities with the way former India and Chennai skipper and Mahendra Singh Dhoni ended his Test career.
Dhoni announced his shock retirement from Test on December 30, 2014, mid-way through the Test series against Australia.
