Hyderabad: India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin recently opened up on his decision to take sudden retirement from international cricket, after the third Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, midway of the Border Gavaskar Trophy on Thursday, December 18, 2024.
Ashwin revealed that he had self-promised from the early days of his career that he wouldn't let India play another Test series on home soil.
Notably, Ashwin retired as the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 537 wickets from 106 matches. He also holds the record for joint most Player of the Series (11) and joint second most fifers (37) in the longest format of the game.
Recently, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) released a special video to pay tribute to veteran off-spinner Ashwin capturing all of his milestone scalps and the other great moments from his career. In the special video feature, Ashwin shared the promise he made to himself about not letting India lose another series after Men in Blue, led by MS Dhoni, suffered a 1-2 series defeat against England in 2012 at home.
"Look, I don't know where to begin, honestly, I think. I made myself a promise in 2012. We lost the series against England, a tricky one. It was very early in my career and I was just telling myself, we're not going to lose another one ever, and that's what I promised myself. How many wickets you take, how many hour runs you make, in 10 years, you won't remember them. It's the memories that matter," said Ashwin in a video released by BCCI.
After that England series loss, India dominated the home conditions for a prolonged period of 12 years where they won 18 Test series at home which was eventually ended by New Zealand who whitewashed the hosts for the first time in 92 years in three or more match series. In that period, Ashwin played an instrumental role in India’s over 12-year-long home dominance as he scalped 320 wickets from 53 matches at an average of 20.04 with 24 five-wicket hauls and five ten-wicket hauls. Apart from this, the veteran all-rounder also scored 1505 runs from 64 innings at an average of 24.27 with three hundred and six fifties.
Further speaking ahead, Ashwin also shared that he never expected to pick so many wickets in his career.
"But if somebody had told me in 2011 that I would be getting so many wickets, I'd be retiring in 2024 on December 18th. I wouldn't have believed them because I knew that this is a game that I loved, but I never did expect that I would get so much love and so many wickets and so many runs as well. I'm very glad, deep sense of gratitude for everyone who supported me, and everyone that's challenged me. So happy today. Thank you," he added.
