Ashwin's shocking conversation before retirement goes viral

Indian captain Rohit Sharma has revealed the discussion he and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had before he announced his retirement.

The veteran Indian spinner revealed his decision in a presser following the rain-affected third AUS v IND Test in Brisbane on Wednesday.

“This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level,” Ravichandran Ashwin said while expressing gratitude to the Indian cricket team for his journey.

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma shared their surprising chat before Ashwin announced his retirement.

“Speaking about Ash, he was very very sure about this decision. I heard this when I came to Perth. Obviously, I was not there for the first three or four days of the Test match, but this was on his mind since then. There are obviously a lot of things that went behind it; I’m pretty sure, Ash, when he went in position, will be able to answer that,” he said at the post-match press conference.

“He understands what the team is thinking. He understands what kind of combinations we are thinking of. When we came here as well, we were not sure about which spinner was going to play. We just wanted to assess and see what kind of conditions we get in front of us, But yeah, when I arrived in Perth, this was a chat we had, and I somehow convinced him to stay for that pink ball Test,” Rohit Sharma added.

According to the Indian captain, Ravichandran Ashwin decided to bid farewell after he felt that he was not needed in the team at the moment.

“It just happened so that if you know where he felt that, ‘if I’m not needed right now in the series, I’m better off.’ Saying goodbye to the game, but obviously, we’ve not been to Melbourne yet, so we don’t know what sort of conditions we expect there and what sort of combination, but just keeping Ash in particularly in mind, giving him that respect that this if this is what he thinks, we should allow him to think that way and we should all stand by,” Rohit Sharma added.

It is worth noting here that Ravichandran Ashwin is the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 537 wickets in 106 games, only behind Anil Kumble, who took 619 wickets in 132 Test matches.

Ashwin has scored 3,503 runs in Test cricket, including six tons and 14 half-centuries.