Former India cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra feels veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was frustrated with being consistently overlooked in overseas conditions. Notably, Ashwin recently announced his retirement from international cricket after the third Test against Australia in Brisbane.
The off spinner finished his career as India’s second-highest wicket taker in both Tests (537 wickets) and overall in international cricket (765 wickets). However, Ashwin’s sudden retirement in the middle of the series raised many eyebrows. Aakash Chopra also shared his opinion on the matter and said that the veteran spinner may have been frustrated by being continuously overlooked in overseas conditions by the team management.
“What exactly has happened? There is a moment in everyone’s life, where you think, do I want to do this anymore? Am I OK with it? Ashwin must have had this in his mind for a long time that he does not play much overseas. He is not the no.1 spin option when it comes to overseas games. This was going on for quite some time. He made peace with it. Jaddu was always ahead of him overseas. So, he made peace with it that Jadeja is playing,” said Chopra on his Youtube Channel.
Further speaking ahead, Chopra also mentioned that being put even below Washington Sundar in the pecking order might’ve triggered Ashwin’s retirement decision.
“But when Sundar played the Perth Test, then he said, that’s it, I am done. Ashwin played the Pink-ball Test but when he was dropped from Gabba, he said, he was done. You are not serious in playing me in the XI. I did nothing wrong in Pink-ball Test to be dropped from the Gabba game. In Gabba, Jaddu made runs so Ashwin was unlikely to feature in Melbourne,” he added.
Ashwin’s dismal show in home series vs New Zealand
Sundar played ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja in the first Test against Australia in Perth and picked two wickets along with registering scores of 4 and 29 across two innings. Sundar also outperformed both senior spinners in the recent home series against New Zealand as he scalped 16 wickets from just two matches at an average of 14.12. On the other hand, Ashwin had his second-worst performance in a home Test series with nine wickets from three matches at an average of 41.22 while Jadeja also picked 16 wickets from three matches.
Hence, being outperformed by his peers in the conditions he’s dominated throughout his life mustn’t have gone down well with the Indian spinner, which could well have triggered his retirement call.
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