"Lost My Creativity": Ravichandran Ashwin Reveals the Massive Reason Behind His Sudden Retirement

On Monday, April 28, former Indian cricket player R Ashwin received the Padma Shri award in recognition of his accomplishments in the game. The cricketer from Tamil Nadu famously declared his retirement during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25. He has recently acknowledged that twice over the years, he considered retiring.

He was selected for the series' second Test match in Adelaide, where he amassed 29 runs in two innings while recording statistics of 1/53. But Ashwin was once more benched for the third Test, as Ravindra Jadeja was picked instead. The off-spinner recently disclosed that he had intended to retire following his 100th Test match in Dharamsala, but he played through the Australia series after beginning the domestic campaign as Player of the Match.

Ashwin disclosed that he began to consider retirement during the 2023 home series against Australia and again after India thrashed England at home the following year. The off-spinner revealed that he chose to participate in the home season even though he wanted to rest his knees following the 100th Test.

Ravichandran Ashwin gets candid:

Indian great Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement: https://t.co/ArNVerO0M0 pic.twitter.com/5mUB2obR7z

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 18, 2024

Ashwin told Mike Hussey on the podcast Mike Testing 123, "To be very honest, I wanted to do it after my 100th Test. And then I thought, 'Ok, let me give it a go in the home season'. Because, I mean, you’re playing well and you’re getting wickets, you’re making runs. So I thought it made sense to play a bit. I was having a lot of fun, but the whole hard yards that I had to put through to put myself in the park again, physically and mentally, one of the most important things for me that was pulling me down was the family time."

He acknowledged that after considering his options and being rested in the series opener in Perth, he made the decision to retire during the second Test in Adelaide.

He added, “I thought I’ll probably close off (with) the Chennai Test here. I ended up getting a six-wicket haul and a hundred. So it’s very tough to quit when you’re doing very well. So, I went on with the series, and we lost against New Zealand. So one after the other, it was just building up. And then I thought, okay, let me go to Australia. Let me see how this goes. Because the last time I was in Australia, I had a great, great tour. And when I didn’t start in Perth, it was like, okay, this whole circle keeps going again. People add very little value to what you’re going through emotionally. They don’t really consider that because your emotions are yours, and it doesn’t matter to anybody else. So I had been contemplating that, and then I thought, okay, maybe it is time."

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