R Ashwin | Image: Instagram
Ravichandran Ashwin struggled with his insecurities for a long time in his childhood and perhaps he did not want to get stuck in the quagmire of insecurities again. This is why his sudden retirement from international cricket will not be surprising to anyone who has followed his journey. He could have retired after the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney but he was not ready to just remain associated with the team.
No one needed to tell him it was time to walk away from the game. Ashwin, in his brief appearance at the press conference, let the world know that he is ready to go.
He played many roles as an active international cricketer. Even after spending 14 years at the top level, it is very difficult to pin Ashwin to any one role. His 765 international wickets are not enough figures to understand the veteran player who has admitted in his book about feeling insecure as a child. He gradually won that battle and cricket played a major role in molding him into a confident person.
A few months ago, when the first part of Ashwin’s autobiography ‘I Have the Streets’ was released, he had told ‘PTI’, “I would rather fail in life than be completely safe. This is my character. I don’t have the typical insecurities that people have.”
Ashwin said, “If you go to a casino thinking how much money you will make, you might leave empty-handed with no money. But when you go out with the intention of having fun and losing the money you have, you always return a very rich person. It was a really big learning experience.” So when he told his teammates about his decision, he didn’t care whether his 106 Test matches might turn into 107 or 108. it does not matter now.
Ashwin never believed that an off spinner could bowl ‘doosra’ with a legitimate action but he developed his own ball and named it the ‘Carrom Ball’. ‘Carrom ball’ became Ashwin’s signature ball throughout his career but he had the courage to tell the world that he had learned it by watching Sri Lankan bowler Ajantha Mendis during the junior camp in Chennai. From 2011 till the series against England, he was lethal on the home ground.
Critics can talk endlessly about the nature of Indian pitches during the last 13 years but no one can deny that Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the strength of the team in those conditions. Anyone can be provided with favorable conditions but the player must also know how to take advantage. His 383 wickets on Indian soil and 433 of his 537 Test wickets in Asia are testament to his mastery in these conditions.
He bowled some excellent spells in England and Australia but sometimes the statistics hide more than they reveal. No one could have guessed how much pain he had to endure after suffering a lower abdominal injury during the 2018 Southampton Test against England. India had lost in this test. Ashwin’s biggest achievement on foreign soil would definitely be batting for more than 40 overs in which Hanuma Vihari was equally troubled by a leg muscle injury but both of them saved India from defeat in the Sydney Test in 2021.
That day, Ashwin played despite the pain and saved the match, which looked like a victory. He is a person with strong values. During his junior cricket days, it was his father Ravichandran who asked him from outside the field to run out the batsman at the bowling end when he saw that he was moving inappropriately. It was from here that his habit of running out at the bowling end started. He believed in the rules and played by them.
Cheating in the name of ‘spirit of cricket’ was unacceptable to him. He can stand up for his teammate like he did for Mohammed Siraj, who faced abuse in Australia. But he always knew that cricket was a part of life, not the heart of life.
The engineer from ‘Ramakrishnapuram First Street’, Chennai did not hesitate to leave the ‘Covid bio-bubble’ when a family member fell ill and he did not shy away from leaving a Test match when his mother Chitra survived a heart attack. Ashwin always had a Plan B, whether it was buying a cricket team in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association League or building a team in the Global Chess League.
His Tamil YouTube channel ‘Kutty Stories’ and Interviews has a huge fan following across India. His views on a myriad of cricket issues, players and rules are very popular among fans. Ravichandran Ashwin will always be a different person as a cricketer. The next part of ‘I Have the Streets’ will be equally fascinating.
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