Ravichandran Ashwin proudly says he answered his calling from cricket after bringing the curtain down on his storied career with India.
The 38-year-old off-spinner announced his retirement from international cricket after a glittering 14-yard career in which took 765 international wickets across all formats and became the seventh-highest Test wicket-taker of all time.
Speaking exclusively to the Sky Sports Cricket podcast, Ashwin revealed how his deep-rooted passion for cricket not only improved him as a player, but gave meaning to his life.
“I just gave it my all, despite knowing it’s not the popular or accepted method,” he said. “My journey is completely mine.
“I’ve seen a lot of cricketers over the years with exceptional skill and talent, but the ability to articulate or teach another person about it is something that is very unique and comes across to people only if they have explored it themselves.
“The amount of exploration I have had to do to be very successful has left me with a wide variety of knowledge to be able to say, with confidence, that this is a game I love and can explore and brutally talk about for the rest of my life.
“I’ve got no regrets because I’ve had to do it the hard way, but it has left me with the idea that the game has been my calling. People find their calling at different stages of their life but I’m so glad this game found me and it has given me meaning to life.
“I’ve played Test cricket for so long it’s even taught me how to construct and live my life. It’s the most beautiful thing that has happened for me.”
Ashwin announced his retirement after India’s draw with Australia in the Brisbane Test, a game he was not selected for.
He revealed he had considered retirement in the past but finally made the decision when his creativity could no longer be fulfilled.
The cricketer in me is not done, I do visualise doing a lot more in the next few years. That tag of being an Indian cricketer can be overwhelming. Now that’s off my back, I have an avenue explore much more over the next few years, as long as my body allows me to.
“I’ve never been a person who holds onto things, I’ve never felt insecure in life,” he added. “I don’t believe what is mine today is going to be mine tomorrow. That has probably been one of my elevating factors all these years.
“I always wanted to leave things behind as nonchalantly as I can because I do not believe in people celebrating me, I don’t believe in the attention we get sometimes in India. It is the game that always stood ahead of me, all the time.
“I did contemplate [retirement] a few times. For me, the day I woke up and felt the creative side of me didn’t have a future or direction, that would be the day I would give it up. I suddenly felt that creative side didn’t have a lot of upsides to explore.”
After ending his career as India’s second-highest Test wicket taker (537) and hitting six hundreds and 14 half-centuries, Ashwin reflected on a watershed moment during England’s 2012 tour of India that helped sculpt him into the player he became.
In the second Test in Mumbai, Ashwin recorded figures of 2-145 and was knocked around the Wankhede Stadium by Kevin Pietersen, who top-scored with 186, as England claimed a 10-wicket victory to level the series.
It left an indelible mark on Ashwin, who added: “I have one regret in life. I know KP is a very proud man, I’ve seen him talk a lot about how he took us down in Mumbai.
“Very early in my career, in the formative years, things on the technical side that went wrong put me on the path of excellence.
“I wanted to take on KP every single time after that. He’s a wonderful batter but anyone that didn’t have a really sound defence was someone I fancied because I’m very good at picking up players who step out, players who sweep.
“In that particular series against KP and Alastair Cook, one of the finest batters I’ve bowled to, my alignments were so bad. My left leg was going so far out that I wasn’t able to get my length right at all.
“For the rest of my career, ever since 2012, it was all about finding different solutions. I’m very grateful for the series going that way, because if it hadn’t happened, I might not have set myself on the path to excel as a bowler because to excel as bowler it’s very internal rather than external.”
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