Rohit opens up on Ashwin's retirement and memories of playing together
The Indian skipper reminisced on playing age-group cricket alongside Ashwin and praised his match-winning ability for India.
Ravichandran Ashwin took over the cricketing fraternity by surprise as he pulled the plug on his international career at the end of the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Brisbane.
When asked about the ace spinner's decision in the middle of the five-Test series in Australia, Indian captain Rohit Sharma emphasized that the 38-year-old was firm in his decision, and needed to be backed for the same.
“Somebody like Ashwin who has been there for us for so many years is allowed to make those kind of decisions on his own,” Rohit told reporters in Brisbane.
“We as teammates have to respect it. He was very sure about what he wanted to do and the team has complete backing of his thought process,” he added.
Rohit shared that the thought of retirement had been brewing in Ashwin’s mind since the beginning of the ongoing tour.
“We had this chat when I arrived in Perth,” he said.
“I somehow convinced him to stay for the pink-ball Test and then after...it just happened. He felt that if I'm not needed right now in the series, I'm better off saying goodbye to the game.”
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Ashwin played 106 Tests for India, snapping 537 wickets and scoring 3503 runs from the same. He remains the only Test cricketer to have claimed over 500 wickets and hit six centuries in the longest format of the game.
He also boasts 156 ODI wickets for India from 116 outings and 72 in the T20Is from 65 appearances.
Rohit cast his mind back to the time when he first came across Ashwin, playing age-group cricket in India.
“I've played cricket with Ash since U17. He was an opening batter back then. A few years later, we all disappeared.
“And then suddenly I'm hearing about Tamil Nadu's R Ashwin taking five wickets, and I was wondering who this guy is. Because I played him as a batsman and suddenly he has turned out to be a bowler who's taking five-fors.”
Furthermore, from his time playing alongside Ashwin at the senior level, Rohit commended the latter's match-winning ability and termed him as India’s crisis man.
“One of the true match winners that India has ever seen. Whenever there was a crisis, we had to look upon Ash, and he was there to deliver for us.
“His records speak for themselves. He has been a servant of Indian cricket and has probably not left any stones unturned.”