Ravichandran Ashwin Retires From Intl Cricket: Legendary Indian spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing one of the greatest modern-day cricket careers to an end. He announced this decision following the third Australia vs India Test match in Brisbane.
Today was Day Five of the third of five Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Today, after avoiding a follow-on yesterday, the Indian bowling unit rocked Australia but did not get the chance to chase a score down due to rains as the match ended in a draw.
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Ravichandran Ashwin Retires From Intl Cricket
Hailing from Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, the 38-year-old made his international debut in 2010. He was a part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad and the 2013 Champions Trophy winning squad, even bowling the final over in the final of the latter.
R. Ashwin is arguably the greatest spin bowler of his generation and among the greatest of all time. While he is classified as an off-spinner, calling him that would undersell his talents. Ashwin-anna is a master of variations. Not only could he spin the ball in any direction, but he also mastered variations like the carrom ball.
For some time now, Ashwin has only been a part of the Indian Cricket Team’s Test side, having played his last ODI in 2023 and his last T20I in 2022. In those formats, he has decent stats. In ODIs, he took 156 wickets in 116 games at an average of 33.20, while in T20Is, he took 72 wickets in 65 matches.
But it is in Test cricket where Ravichandran Ashwin truly shined. In 106 matches, the legendary spinner has 537 scalps at an average of 24. This makes him the seventh-highest wicket-taker in the format’s history and the second-highest Indian on that list after Anil Kumble.
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“This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level. I do feel there’s a bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I would like to express that and probably showcase that in club-level cricket, but this will be the last day [for India],” said Ashwin in the press conference of the Gabba Test, which ended in a draw.
But it is not only with the ball that he was a match-winner. In Test cricket, Ashwin is only one of 11 players to have scored 3000 runs and have taken 300 wickets. His average while batting against the red ball is 25.75 and he has six centuries under his belt.
“Obviously there are a lot of people to thank, but I would be failing in my duties if I didn’t thank the BCCI and the fellow teammates. Several of them. I want to name a few of them. All the coaches who have been part of the journey. Most importantly, Rohit, Virat [Kohli], Ajinkya [Rahane], [Cheteshwar] Pujara, who have taken those splendid catches around the bat to give me the number of wickets I’ve managed to get over the years. Also a big thank you to the Australian cricket team, who have been very fierce competitors. I have enjoyed my time playing against them, he continued in the press conference.
On the day of the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin, a modern-day legend of Indian Cricket, the India vs Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy stands at 1-1 after three Tests. The remaining two matches will now be played in Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
As for Ravichandran Ashwin, he will continue to play in franchise cricket leagues like the TNPL and the IPL. In the latter of those, he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings in the recent mega-auction.
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