Former Australian cricketers Brett Lee and Brad Haddin were surprised by Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden retirement from international cricket during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Many didn’t expect him to leave the game while the series was still going, especially since it was tied at 1-1 with two matches left to play.
Ashwin didn’t play in the Perth and Brisbane Tests, and when he got a chance in Adelaide, the pitch didn’t help spinners much. He took his last wicket, dismissing Mitchell Marsh, and finished with 537 wickets in 106 Test matches. This makes him the second-highest wicket-taker for India, just behind Anil Kumble.
Brett Lee speculated that Ashwin might have been told by team management that he wouldn’t get to play in the remaining matches. “The last spinner who retired midway through a series in Australia was Graeme Swann. Ashwin might have been informed he wouldn’t play again in this series, leading him to retire on his own terms,” Lee said on Fox Cricket.
Brad Haddin also praised Ashwin but suggested that he might have felt frustrated with how the spinning options changed during the series. “When Ashwin gets a chance to explain, we’ll understand better; it seems he was a bit frustrated. He has always been keen to improve and has earned the right to make his own decision,” Haddin mentioned after the Test match.
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