R Ashwin retires: Great problem solver who played cricket for cricket’s sake

Out of Bunty Aur Bablithe Indian Bonnie and Clyde The first words of the story, so to speak, to set the scene for the two lovable villains: “Yeh world hai nah world, isme do tarah ke log hotay hain. Ek jo sari zindagi ek hi kaam kartay rehtay hain, aur dossray jo ek hi hi zindagi my saray kaam kar detay hain.”

Translated: “So in the world there are two kinds of people: those who do only one kind of work throughout their lives, and others who do all kinds of work in just one lifetime.”

Ashwin belongs to the second type. He wanted to bat, he wanted to bowl fast, he wanted to be captain, he wanted to organize games. When the young Ashwin was ruled out due to injury, he wanted to be there, even if it meant he had to score. He wanted to share the ride with all of you, so he started his YouTube channel while playing without a commercial agreement.

Most importantly, he wanted to do whatever there was to be done, which was his bread and butter. Most of us Indians do not experiment lest we end up losing what we have earned through blood, sweat, tears and luck in a country as fiercely competitive as India. But Ashwin did everything that needed to be done in the offspin bowling department. Experts kept telling him that he was experimenting too much. This offspin is about doing the same thing all your life. That he will lose his stick if he continues to, in his own words, “fool around.” What will he do then?

Ashwin was incredibly sure and confident in landing the ball where he wanted it to land, and so he pushed the art to its limits with other things too. Different approaches, different loads, different seam alignments, different balls overall, but he always landed the ball where he wanted it.

This author once asked him if he wasn’t afraid of losing the good offbreak. “Then what are you going to do?” He said that if he lost it, that would mean he couldn’t keep it. He never allowed this fear, this conservative mindset, to hinder his pursuit of excellence.

The irony now. One line in Hindi to sum it up. When he was not yet an offspinner, he almost quit cricket due to language barriers at a national under-17 camp. Back then, at all levels of domestic cricket, everyone from South India had to learn as much Hindi as they could in order to survive in the dressing room. It came as a shock to Ashwin that no one could sense his discomfort.

But he loved the game and the competition so much that after getting over the initial shock, Ashwin enrolled in private Hindi courses. After a certain point, he no longer saw it as a political or cultural problem. He saw it as a problem and had to practically solve it.

Being dropped by the limited-overs sides without any communication was also a problem, which he tried to solve by adding newer shots to his bowling and muscle to his batting. It’s been so long since he played regularly in international limited-overs tournaments that it’s easy to forget that he was an ODI and T20I bowler for six years, often bowling in powerplays and leading the Chennai Super Kings to title wins in the IPL led.

Ashwin was incredibly confident and confident in landing the ball where he wanted it to land and so he pushed the art (of offspin) to its limits with other things. Different approaches, different loads, different seam alignments, different balls overall, but he always landed the ball where he wanted it.

Before the World Test Championship pushed teams to seek extreme home advantage, Ashwin was partly responsible for countries handing out pitches that kept spinners out of the game.

We appreciate the skill, but not quite the discipline, dedication and commitment required not to miss a single home Test in a Test career that spanned 13 years, from your debut to your retirement. For a modern cricketer, what is even more remarkable is how much cricket he plays. Staying fit despite sporting challenges, never getting sick during a test, whether at home or away, managing other more important events in life so that they do not conflict with test matches.

We also don’t fully understand that Ashwin wasn’t the kind of gifted cricketer or sportsman that executives understandably take into consideration. He can be proud of the fact that he played every single one of his international matches based solely on performance and not on promise or, later in his career, popularity. He was never too big to be dropped, but with his performance and competitive spirit, Ashwin ensured that he was never so small that he could be ignored.

It is a cruel irony that the career of India’s greatest match-winner ends with four consecutive Test defeats (three against New Zealand at home and the Adelaide Test). For a person as emotional as Ashwin, the timing of his announcement is strange. One would expect him to play a farewell test and enjoy the ending. Maybe he has his family with him – they weren’t at the Gabba.

Then again, the only thing he’s more emotional about is his family. Since Ravindra Jadeja overtook him as a Test batsman and conditions in England, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia favored a fourth fast bowler at No. 8 over a spinner, Ashwin has gone months without actually being able to play.

There’s no shame in not being part of the eleven, but at a certain age and at a certain stage in your career, you need enough incentive to be away from your family for months at a time. At this stage of his career, when he only has a few years of peak performance left in his body, Ashwin would much rather be part of a playing XI, even if it is for a local club game. This also means he can spend more time with his family.

That may sound justified, but it isn’t. He really finds more peace in playing a local game than in the money and the exhilaration of being part of an international tour without actually playing. He loves cricket because of the cricket itself and not because of what else it entails.

Had there been a home series immediately after this tour, Ashwin might have stayed. Some might question the fact that he left in the middle of a series, but if he won’t be appearing in the rest of the series, one might then question his wanting to spend Christmas and New Year with his family, something he has been doing since then years? Furthermore, retirement is an extremely personal matter. You’re saying goodbye to something that gave your life meaning for about 35 years; No one from the outside has the right to tell you when to do it.

If anything, the timing – in the middle of a 1-1 series – brings into focus the harsh reality of Indian cricket: bar a handful, even the greatest have been treated as disposable objects. It should be the responsibility of the team management to know what the players are thinking at this stage of their career. They’re not easy conversations, but it’s better to have them than not.

Very few manage to end their career with a perfect degree. Who wouldn’t have wanted to see Ashwin win a match he had previously said would be his last?

Ashwin won’t cry, it’s over. He will cry that it happened, but tears of joy. He’ll probably say that if he didn’t get the perfect ending, it wasn’t his job to get it.