NEW DELHI: Former India opener Aakash Chopra feels that Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden retirement from international cricket has officially started India’s transition journey and more retirements might follow after the team’s tour of Australia comes to an end.
Ashwin stunned the cricketing world on Thursday when he called it quits after the third India vs Australia Test in Brisbane ended in a draw.
The 38-year-old did not feature in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Perth but was then included for the Pink-Ball Test in Adelaide. Ashwin was then dropped from the third Test, where his replacement Ravindra Jadeja did pretty well with the bat.
Chopra said that after Jadeja’s strong show in Brisbane, Ashwin must have thought he now has got no chance of featuring in Melbourne and with Washington Sundar around there was no guarantee of him featuring him in the XI, so he called it quits.
“What exactly has happened? There is a moment in everyone’s life, where you think, do I want to do this anymore? Am I OK with it? Ashwin must have had this in his mind for a long time that he does not play much overseas. He is not the no.1 spin option when it comes to overseas games. This was going on for quite some time. He made peace with it. Jaddu was always ahead of him overseas. So, he made peace with it that Jadeja is playing. But when Sundar played the Perth Test, then he said, that’s it, I am done. Ashwin played the Pink-ball Test but when he was dropped from Gabba, he said, he was done. You are not serious in playing me in the XI. I did nothing wrong in Pink-ball Test to be dropped from the Gabba game. In Gabba, Jaddu made runs so Ashwin was unlikely to feature in Melbourne.
“If someone would have said to Ashwin to wait as team might need two spinners in England and then there is a home series. There is only one format, so be around but nobody had that conversation with Ashwin is what I feel. He went in the middle of the series, so there is a question about team’s composition, balance as well now. Retirement in the middle of the series is generally not a nice thing and that too when series is still open,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra also felt that with now Ashwin gone, it is now the official start of India’s transition period and the next three weeks will give a clear picture of how Team India will go forward.
“The wheel is set in motion. This is now the official start of the transition. One is gone. More can follow. Next three months are going to be very important. By 15th January, the picture will get clear, how this Indian team will go forward. Ashwin’s retirement has opened quite a few threads. There is no doubt in this,” Chopra said.
After three Tests, the Border-Gavaskar series is tied at 1-1.
The Boxing day Test begins from December 26 in Melbourne.
