Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket in the middle of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25. He announced the decision after the end of the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane. The decision came as a shock, as no one had expected that Ashwin would call it quits with BGT and the qualification to the WTC final on the line.
Former India opener and legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the Indian team management for ignoring Ashwin in overseas Tests in the last few years. He stated that the team management always picked Ashwin in the home tests as they knew and realised that they would not be able to win any game at home without him. However, he criticised the team management for ignoring him in overseas tests, citing reasons for team combinations and conditions.
“At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew they could not win the game without him. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC’s number one-ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters even if they were not top-ranked by ICC, but who struggled in similar pitches and conditions?”
Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day
Sunil Gavaskar wanted Ravichandran Ashwin to lead the Test team
Gavaskar stated that India left him out of the XI whenever there was the presence of the slightest of reasons to exclude him. The former India opener also said that Ashwin could have been a great Test captain, but he was not even made the vice-captain. He wanted Ashwin to be captain of the Test team for even one game or a bilateral series. He also praised Rohit Sharma for allowing Ashwin to lead the team out on his 100th Test match.
“Cricket being a batters’ game, the fact that he invariably won the Player of the Series award didn’t win him kudos among the batters’ fraternity. Every time there was even a five percent excuse to leave him out of the eleven, it was grabbed avidly with the excuse of team balance. Ashwin would have made a fine captain for India, but he was denied even the honor of being the vice-captain. There was an opportunity to give him the belated honor even if it was for a token Test match and a limited-overs bilateral series, but that also was denied to him. That’s why it was so good to see Rohit Sharma ask him to lead the team out on his 100th Test match” Gavaskar added.
Ashwin has taken 537 Test wickets, 156 ODI wickets, and 72 T20I wickets. He also has six Test hundreds to his name. Ashwin featured in the second Test match against Australia with the pink ball at the Adelaide Oval, which became his final match for India.
