‘When I’m not needed…’: R Ashwin’s blunt ‘retirement’ chat with Rohit Sharma revealed

Indian cricket team spinner R Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket after the third Test match against Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday. Ashwin made the announcement in the post-match press conference along with captain Rohit Sharma. While Ashwin did not answer any further questions after the announcement, Rohit said he was clearly speechless after the announcement and called him one of the greatest ‘match-winners’ the country has ever produced. “Speaking of Ash, he was very, very sure about that decision. That’s what I heard when I came to Perth. Obviously I wasn’t there for the first three or four days of the Test match, but that’s been on his mind ever since. “There were obviously a lot of things behind that. I am pretty sure that when Ash gets into his position, he will be able to give an answer to that,” Rohit told reporters at the post-match press conference.

“He understands what the team thinks. He understands what combinations we are thinking about. Even when we came here, we weren’t sure which spinner would play. We just wanted to assess and see what the conditions would be.” “We’re up against it, but yeah, when I got to Perth we talked about it and I kind of convinced him to stay for that pink-ball Test.” , he added.

“It just so happened that if you know how he felt: ‘If I’m not needed on the show now, I’m better off. I’m saying goodbye to the game but obviously we haven’t been to Melbourne yet.’ So we don’t know what kind of conditions we’re expecting there and what kind of combination, but we’re keeping Ash particularly in mind and showing him the respect that if he thinks that, we should allow him to think that way and we should all stand by it .

The 38-year-old retires as the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 537 scalps in 106 games, trailing only the great Anil Kumble (619 wickets) in the overall statistics.

In the limited-overs format, playing in the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy winning teams were among the highlights of his career.

“He is a big match winner for us. He is allowed to make these decisions himself, and if it were like that now, then so be it. He looks like a very funny character as you saw in his press conference. He’s a…” “Very funny guy, there’s no doubt about it.”

“I have played cricket with Ash since I was 17; he was an opener batsman then and then a few years later we all disappeared and then suddenly I hear news about Tamil Nadu R Ashwin taking five wickets, seven wickets etc. I was wondering who this guy is because I played him as a batsman and then suddenly he turned out to be a bowler who takes whistles and then of course we met again in international cricket and then we had a long, long journey together,” he added added.

(With PTI inputs)