‘Wanted to do it after my 100th Test but…’: Ravichandran Ashwin reveals what made him announce retirement

Ashwin reveals what led to his shocking retirement

Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finally revealed what led to his retirement midway through the Border-Gavaskar series. Ashwin shockingly announced his retirement after the third Test of the 5-match series which was held in Brisbane.

During an interaction on the Mike Testing 1, 2, 3′ podcast, Ashwin revealed that he wanted to hang up his shoes after the Test match against Bangladesh in Chennai where he scored a century and also grabbed a 6-wicket haul.

However, he decided to play a few more matches in the format due to his and the Indian team’s excellent form during that time.

“To be very honest, I wanted to do it after my 100th Test. And then I thought, Ok, let me give it a go in the home season. Because, I mean, you’re playing well, and you’re getting wickets, you’re making runs,” Ashwin told Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey in the podcast.

“I thought it does make sense to play a bit. I was having a lot of fun, but the whole hard yards that I had to put through to put myself in the park again, physically and mentally, one of the most important things that was pulling me down was the family time,” Ashwin added.

The former spinner further revealed that not getting selected in the playing XI for the Perth Test in the series against Australia took an emotional toll on him and was one of the main factors that led to his retirement.

“I thought I’d probably close off with the Chennai Test here. I ended up getting a six-wicket haul and a hundred. So it’s very tough to quit when you’re doing very well. So, I went on with the series, and we lost against New Zealand. So, one after the other, it was just building up. And then I thought, okay, let me go to Australia. Let me see how this goes. Because the last time I was in Australia, I had a great, great tour,” Ashwin said.

“And when I didn’t start in Perth, it was like, okay, this whole circle keeps going again. People add very little value to what you’re going through emotionally. They don’t really consider that because your emotions are yours, and it doesn’t matter to anybody else. So I had been contemplating that, and then I thought, okay, maybe it is time,” Ashwin added.