Ashwin Retires

R. Ashwin retired from international cricket today, aged 38 years and 92 days. He played 106 Tests, 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is for India from June 5, 2010 to December 8, 2024. He retired almost exactly 18 years after his first class debut for Tamil Nadu against Haryana on December 9, 2006. He bowled 70 overs in that debut match. He has bowled nearly 7000 overs in first class cricket in all and collected 779 first class wickets, including 537 in Tests.

Ashwin is India’s greatest Test match winner to date. Of the 39 bowlers who have at least 300 Test wickets to their name, only three bowlers before him - Muralitharan, Hadlee and Lillee - managed at least five wicket per Test. It takes 20 wickets to win a Test, and Ashwin collected 5 per match on average. He also made 3503 Test runs to go with his 500 wickets. Only Stuart Broad has completed the 3500 runs, 500 wickets double in Test cricket before Ashwin. It took Broad 157 Tests to do it. Ashwin did it in his 106th. Measured another way, of the 3204 cricketers who have earned a Test cap, Ashwin is the only one to have more than 500 Test wickets and 5 Test hundreds.

I have written about Ashwin before in these pages [2024, 2020]. He was arguably the most creative bowler of his generation - the Shane Warne of his generation if you will. His variety was a consequence of his relentless inquiry into batters, batting and bowling. His success was down to his iron discipline and competitiveness. His undercutter was the most successful variation in Test cricket in living memory. It formed the cornerstone of his success against left handers in Test cricket. It was delivered with the seam orthogonal to the direction of the ball. This allowed Ashwin to impart revs on the ball and prevent the ball from dipping on the batter. It was the finger spinner’s version of the wrist spinner’s flipper (Shane Warne’s masterful version in the 1990s was similarly lethal).

Beyond his record, Ashwin demonstrated the essential characteristic of a great genius - he was an original. Nothing he did was derivative or an imitation of something others could do. It was, always, an original solution to the problem which confronted him. He was prepared to bowl in the classical fashion, outside the right hander’s off stump. He was also prepared to bowl straighter when the conditions demanded it. At other times, he would bowl from round the wicket to the right hander. He was a master of each of these lines of attack. In his final Test, he bowled a brilliant 17 over spell in conditions which offered nothing for the finger spinner (his great contemporary Nathan Lyon bowled 1 over in the whole match). His returns were not spectacular - 1/53. But he tested, and troubled, ever batter he bowled to and induced errors from all of them.

Ashwin will be difficult to replace in the Indian Test eleven. But he will, hopefully, find a public place in cricket in the years to come. He has already developed an original voice on his Youtube station. His recent memoir, co-authored with Sidharth Monga, ends on the eve of his international debut. A second part of the memoir covering his international career is now required. There is also a severe shortage of the bowler’s voice in the Test match commentary box. Ashwin would be a fine addition there. These are, however, selfish wishes on my part. Ashwin is far more likely to become a coach or a team director in the future, both in the international and league arena. Whatever he does will be rewarding for cricket fans.