What made Ravichandran Ashwin retire midway through the Border-Gavaskar series? | Cricket News

As captain Rohit Sharma said when he landed in Perth, Ashwin had a long talk about giving up before playing the second Test in Adelaide. He was also in the running to take part in the Brisbane Test but Ravindra Jadeja was preferred. It is understood Ashwin at the Gabba informed each player individually of his decision to quit midway through the series, which was met with shock. Although Ashwin had a chance to play in Melbourne and Sydney, the decision also seems to have been made keeping in mind the team’s current performance.

Ravichandran Ashwin retires at home as arguably India’s greatest match-winner. (Sportzpics)

Jadeja had a good outing in Brisbane and in Washington, India has Sundar, another outsider who seems ready to replace Ashwin, although he is completely different.

He still has a few years left in him

At 38, when the Test season began with the home series against Bangladesh – where he won the Man of the Series award – Ashwin seemed to have at least a few years left in him. But with India having no immediate red-ball commitments and no assured starter overseas and with his knee continuing to struggle, Ashwin decided to call it a day just over 18 months after he first considered retirement.

Ashwin is scheduled to return home on Thursday and as he revealed, there is a strong chance that he will still play in domestic tournaments. In the past, he has revealed that winning the Ranji Trophy is a dream waiting to be fulfilled and with Tamil Nadu still in the hunt for the play-offs, there is a chance of him donning the whites could. Otherwise, the IPL, where he would return to the Chennai Super Kings, could well turn out to be a big farewell.