AGENCY
Mumbai, Jan 15
Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on not getting a farewell match after he announced his retirement from the sport during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australian in December. One of the great Indian spinners, Ashwin called time on his illustrious career after the Brisbane Test where he was an unused player. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said he was not interested to get a farewell Test match.
“I want to play more cricket. Where is the place? Obviously not in the Indian dressing room, but somewhere else.
I want to be honest with the game. Imagine if I wanted to play a farewell Test but didn’t deserve a place. Imagine I was only selected because it was my farewell Test.
“I don’t want that. I felt there was still strength in my cricket and that I could have played a bit more. But it’s always better to leave when people ask ‘why’ rather than ‘why not’,” Ashwin shared on his YouTube show.
The legendary spinner was in the headlines in December when he abruptly announced his retirement after the Brisbane Test. According to reports, he was unhappy with the management’s decision to put him on the bench in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was only drafted into the Adelaide Test after captain Rohit Sharma vetoed for his inclusion.
The 2011 World Cup winner retired with a tally of 537 Test wickets in 106 matches while also scoring 3503 runs. He scored six hundreds in the format and was India’s most reliable all-rounder for over a decade. In the ODI format, Ashwin represented India in 116 matches and scalped 156 wickets while in the T20Is he has 72 wickets in 65 matches.
He goes down as one of the legends of Indian cricket and at the time of retirement is the second most successful Test bowler for the nation. Only Anil Kumble with 619 scalped more wickets than Ashwin in the red-ball format.
Overall, he is the seventh most successful bowler in Test format, underlining his name as one of the best in the world.
