Ravichandran Ashwin left fans stunned during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy when he announced his retirement from international cricket right after the third Test. The legendary off-spinner played only the second Test of the five-match series before being excluded from the third clash at The Gabba in Brisbane.
Over a career spanning 14 years, Ashwin represented India in 287 matches across all formats, claiming an impressive 765 wickets. His tally of 537 wickets in Test cricket makes him India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the format, only behind Anil Kumble.
Ashwin Explains the Real Reason Behind Retirement
In a conversation with former India captain and coach Rahul Dravid on his YouTube show Kutti Stories, Ashwin admitted that the decision was not sudden but something he had thought about for a while. The turning point came when constant bench time during overseas tours began to frustrate him.
“𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆,” 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅. “𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒎 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈?”
Ashwin called it a moment of clarity where family time took precedence over professional commitments.
Planned Retirement Age vs Reality
Interestingly, Ashwin revealed that he had always wanted to retire by the age of 34-35 but ended up extending his career until 38.
“𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 34-35,” 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒂𝒊 𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 (𝑪𝑺𝑲) 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
Although retired from international cricket, Ashwin continues to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In IPL 2025, he played nine matches for CSK, taking seven wickets at an average of 40.43 and an economy of 9.13.
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