R Ashwin retired in December 2024. Photo: BCCI/PTI
\n\nR Ashwin announced a shock retirement from international cricket during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and returned home from Australia following the third Test of the five-match series. The Indian legend first broke the news to his former captain, Virat Kohli. Interestingly, the series turned out to be the last one for Kohli and Rohit Sharma as well. Nearly two years after his retirement, Ashwin has revealed that he spoke to head coach Gautam Gambhir about retirement. Speaking on Aakash Chopra's YouTube channel, Ashwin revealed that Gambhir asked him to play through the home season.
\n\n"I was thinking during that England series about till when I should continue playing. If you have a standard and you know it is getting difficult to maintain that, not because of your head, but because of your body, it is very deflating. I took injections, and then the New Zealand series turned out to be very disappointing. I felt I could not win the series for my team, and we could not come back either," Ashwin said.
\n\n"I spoke to Gautam as well, and he told me to play the home season at least. Against Bangladesh, I…
Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/sports
