R Ashwin, one of the legends of Indian cricket, walked into the international sunset after the end of the third Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane. Ashwin like he has played all his career, didn’t make a big deal about it and without getting a farewell game, called it a day in the post-match press conference alongside skipper Rohit Sharma. Since the announcement was a sudden one, it took some time for people to realise that Ashwin will not be seen in India colours anymore.
Tributes and messages poured in to celebrate the career of one of the very best of the sport. On Friday, December 20, a couple of days after announcing his retirement, Ashwin shared his call logs from Wednesday. While there were multiple calls from his father, there was a call from India greats Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. Ashwin reckoned that if 25 years ago if someone had told him that his call records will show the names of Tendulkar and Kapil Dev on his retirement day, he would have gotten a heart attack himself.
“If someone told me 25 years ago that I would have a smart phone with me and the call log on the last day of my career as an Indian cricketer would look like this, I would have had a heart attack then only. Thanks @sachin_rt and @therealkapildev paaji #blessed,” Ashwin wrote on X (formerly Twitter.)
As it is with any announcements, along all the love and heartwarming messages, there have been speculations about the suddenness of the decision midway through the series and that Ashwin chose to return home. His father gave the speculations more air time by alleging that Ashwin was humiliated before the cricketer quashed it.
“Definitely, there’s no doubt about it (the moment being emotional for the family), because he was on the field almost for 14-15 years. The sudden changes and the retirement, it was a really kind of a shock. At the same time, we were expecting that also because humiliation was going on. How long he can just tolerate all those things? Probably, he would have decided on his own,” Mr Ravichandran told News18 in Chennai on Thursday morning.
“My dad isn’t media trained, dey father enna da ithelaam. I never thought you would follow this rich tradition of “dad statements”. Request you all to forgive him and leave him alone,” Ashwin wrote on X.
Ashwin will next be seen in the IPL playing for the Chennai Super Kings as he returns home after 10 years.
