R Ashwin bids adieu from international cricket

India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin continues with stunning retirements from international cricket. His retirement comes having captured a unicorn 765 wickets across formats: some of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced.

While he informed about this on Wednesday in Brisbane at a press conference with captain Rohit Sharma, Ashwin did this immediately:

“This is going to be my last year of competing at the international level in all formats for India,” Ashwin quipped. “I feel there’s a little bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I’d like to express that, showcase that in club-level cricket. I have had so much fun; I have created memories with Rohit and many other players of my team, though some of them (to retirement) have gone in the last few years. We’re the last bunch of OGs, we can say that. We’ll mark this as the date I’ve played at that level

“Of course, there will be many such people in my life to thank, but I will not fulfill my obligations if I do not thank the BCCI and fellow team-mates,” he added.

This makes the ongoing Adelaide Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia Ashwin’s last international match.

“We as a team have to respect it. He was very sure of what he wanted to do. The team completely backs him in his though process. There needs to be a gap for us as a team to recollect our thoughts. We can think about how to proceed further with him. He was very, very sure of this decision,” said Rohit.

He made his international debut in June 2010, when he played his first ODI match against Sri Lanka in Harare. The same month, he played his first T20I, against Zimbabwe in Harare.

He played his first Test against West Indies in November 2011 and went on to become one of an all-time great. He finishes his Test career with 537 wickets from 106 Tests at an average of 24. He took 37 five-wicket hauls and eight times finished with 10 wickets in a Test.

His record of 37 fifers is the joint-second most in Test cricket history alongside the late Shane Warne.

38-year-old Ashwin retires as India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test history. With 11 player-of-the-series awards, the Indian is level on Muttiah Muralitharan for having won the most such awards in Test history.

The offie has also taken 156 wickets in 116 ODIs and 72 in 65 T20Is.

Ashwin not only compiled mind-boggling numbers as a bowler, but he also tasted success as a batter. He has scored 3503 runs in Tests with the help of six centuries and 14 fifties.

Notably, he is one of only 11 allrounders in Test cricket history to have scored 3,000 runs and taken 300 wickets.

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