Ravichandran Ashwin’s unexpected retirement from international cricket has led to polarized opinion about the timing of his decision, with some of the former players disagreeing about the fact that he didn’t wait till the end of the five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series in Australia.
Ashwin brought the curtains down on his 14-year career at the conclusion of the drawn third Test in Brisbane on Wednesday and flew back home the same day, arriving in Chennai on Thursday morning.
Speaking on the development, former Pakistan batter Basit Ali opined that if Virat Kohli was India’s captain at this time, he would have convinced Ashwin to delay his announcement till the end of the BGT.
“I guarantee if Virat Kohli was captain, he wouldn’t have let Ashwin retire and would have told him to announce it after two matches. Why? Because India will need him in Sydney,” said Basit on his YouTube channel. “If Rahul Dravid or Ravi Shastri was India coach, they also would not have let Ashwin retire at this moment.”
The BGT series is currently level at 1-1, with the last two Tests to be held in Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
“It’s bad that Rohit and Gambhir could not convince him and say ‘not at this time, these two Test matches you are needed’, and for sure in Sydney,” the 53-year-old Basit added.
Basit said there is a touch of mystery about Ashwin’s sudden decision in the middle of an important series and that his body language told a lot.
“There are some things you can’t speak, but are still understood. Body language tells everything; the way he (Ashwin) hugged Virat Kohli (in the dressing room),” said Basit. “I agree he is not the same bowler, but not that bad that you put him under so much pressure…537 (Test) wickets are a lot.”
Ashwin’s tally of wickets in Test cricket is only behind Anil Kumble’s 619 among the Indian bowlers, which makes him one of the legends of the game.
He ended up playing 106 Tests, with the pink-ball match in Adelaide marking his last appearance for India. He also scored six Test centuries in his career, which also saw him becoming the top-ranked Test all-rounder in the ICC Rankings.
In white-ball cricket, Ashwin played 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is, taking 156 and 72 wickets respectively.
“Ashwin was not a match-winner, he was a series-winner…Red-ball cricket is the highest level. Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ashwin — they were series-winners,” Basit concluded.
