After the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024–25) in Brisbane, the renowned off-spinner said goodbye to international cricket, and his wife, Prithi Narayanan, wrote a poignant statement.
Prithi claimed that because she was still processing her husband’s abrupt retirement, the past several days had been a little “blurry” for her. She talked about her experiences observing Ashwin prepare for games and how he handled victories and defeats.
“For me, the past two days have been hazy. I’ve been considering what I can say. Should I write something in honour of my favourite cricket player of all time? Perhaps I should only consider the partner perspective? Or perhaps a fangirl’s love letter? This, I suppose, is a little portion of everything. I recalled both significant and insignificant times when I saw Ashwin’s PC. “I have a tonne of memories from the past 13 or 14 years,” Prithi posted on Instagram.
“The big wins, the MOS awards, the quiet silence in our room after a hard game, the sound of the shower running for a longer than usual amount of time on some evenings after play, the constant streaming of footage videos while he is making a game plan, the calm of meditative breathing before leaving for each game, and the sound of certain songs playing on repeat while he unwinds.” The moments we cried with happiness—the CT final, the MCG victory, the Sydney draw, the Gabba victory, and our T20 comeback—the moments we sat in quiet and the moments when our hearts were crushed,” she continued.
Prithi acknowledged that at one point she was unable to assemble a kit bag, but she gradually learnt about the various aspects of the sport at close quarters. She also noted Ashwin’s constant efforts to hone his skills in order to remain competitive. After concluding his remarkable global career, she ultimately counselled the 38-year-old to live life on his own terms.
“Dear Ashwin, it has been an amazing delight to follow you to stadiums throughout the world, cheer for you, observe you, and learn from you—even though I didn’t know how to put a kit bag together. I was able to witness and take in a sport I adore up close because to the world you brought me to. It also made me see how much discipline, hard effort, and devotion it takes to stay afloat. And occasionally, even that is insufficient,” Prithi said.
We discussed why you, R Ashwin, needed to do all of this and much more just to remain important in the grand scheme of things, as I recall. How honours, records, POMs, awards, and the best statistics didn’t matter if you didn’t work hard and continuously improve your skill sets. Nothing is sufficient at times. I just want to let you know that everything is fine as you wrap up your fantastic international run,” she added.
“Everything will work out OK.It’s time to let go of the weight that comes with being you. Live your life as you see fit, carve out time for additional calories, spend time with your family, do nothing at all, share memes all day, invent a new bowling variation, and obsess about our children. “Just do everything,” Prithi wrote at the end of her post.
Check out Prithi Ashwin’s heartwarming love letter for Ashwin here:
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Ashwin helped India take more than 500 Test wickets.
Regarding Ravichandran Ashwin’s remarkable career, the tenacious off-spin mainstay achieved the distinction of playing 106 Test matches, 116 One-Day Internationals, and 65 Twenty20 Internationals for India. His three-format totals were 537, 156, and 72 wickets, respectively. As he is scheduled to play for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, the veteran will continue to play domestically.
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