‘If I’m not needed, I’d better say goodbye’: Rohit Sharma reveals Ashwin’s words before confirming his retirement

India’s leading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket after the end of the Brisbane Test against Australia. Ashwin, 38, made the announcement when he along with captain Rohit Sharma came to address reporters soon after the third Test ended in a draw on Tuesday. After Ashwin’s announcement, Rohit was clearly at a loss for words and described the spinner as one of the greatest ‘match-winners’ the country has ever produced.

Ashwin ends his career as the second highest Indian wicket-taker in Tests with 537 scalps. Rohit revealed that he only found out about the decision upon his arrival in Perth when Ashwin had made up his mind, adding that he was desperate to convince the veteran off-spinner to take part in the Pink Ball Adelaide Test.

“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.

Ashwin’s retirement is a bit shocking as he was still doing his job by taking wickets regularly over the past few years. It is important to note that Ashwin became the first bowler to reach 100 wickets in the World Test Championship and this mark reached three editions in March 2022 with a total of 195 scalps to his name. Ashwin’s 37 Test five-wicket hauls are second only to former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralidaran, who had 67 fifers in Tests.

In his tribute, Rohit further said, “It just so happened that if you know where he felt, ‘If I’m not needed in the series now, I’ll be better off.’ I’m saying goodbye to the game, but of course.” , we haven’t been to Melbourne yet so we don’t know what conditions we’re expecting there and what combination, but I just think of Ash and give him credit for thinking that if that’s the case, we should allow him to think that way and we should all stand by.

“Really a big match winner”

Rohit praised Ashwin and said his contributions to Indian cricket, which have helped his team win countless Tests at home, were a delight.

“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,” said the skipper.

“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.

“Since 2010… so it’s a long time to play together, we all know what he’s done for this team. So I don’t have to repeat it over and over again, but one of the true match winners that India has ever seen, you know, One of the true match winners that India has ever seen in the form of its Ashwin, you know, whenever there was a crisis, we had to “Look at Ash and then he was there to deliver for us, so his records also speak for themselves,” Rohit said.

Rohit didn’t stop there as he called Ashwin a great servant of Indian cricket. “You know, he was a great servant of Indian cricket where he probably left no stone unturned.”

Rohit was spot on. Ashwin has the most Player of the Series awards in Test cricket (11). He was also the second fastest bowler to reach 500 Test wickets, achieving this feat in 98 matches in February 2024. He remains the fastest bowler to surpass the mark of 250, 300 and 350 Test wickets. Ashwin is out after playing just one Test in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was named in the playing eleven for the Adelaide pink-ball Test, in which he took just one wicket. Ashwin played 106 Tests, 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is for India, taking 765 wickets across all formats.