Recently, one of Indian cricket’s great players, Ravichandran Ashwin, declared his retirement from all international competitions. His choice, however, was fairly unexpected. An announcement following the third Test of the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy marked the end of a 14-year international career. The cricket community had extensive conversations on the surprising call.
The use of relatively inexperienced spinners in the Indian setup, especially during the home series against New Zealand, was rather disrespectful to former Indian bowler Manoj Tiwary.
“It was offensive to Ashwin. Take guys like Tanush Kotian and Washington Sundar, who have all excelled in First-Class cricket and are excellent spinners. However, when you have a guy like Ashwin, why bring him in for the home series with Ashwin, Jadeja, and Kuldeep and force him to bowl more overs than Ashwin? Doesn’t that offend Ashwin? Tiwary, as cited by India Today, said.
Undoubtedly, he will come out one day and talk about his experience: Manoj Tiwary.
Speaking on the same subject, Tiwary believed that despite Ashwin’s constant ability to lead the team to victory, he was not supported and valued sufficiently by the team’s administration.
“After putting on so many game-winning efforts, will he just keep going? Being a decent man, he won’t come and say that. He will undoubtedly come out and talk about his experience, though, one day. It’s not the proper procedure. Tiwary continued, “They need some dignity and a pat on the back because they are also players.”
Understanding Ashwin’s decline in popularity at the actual BGT was not difficult. He was left out of India’s starting lineup for both the third Test in Brisbane and the opening match of the series. Ashwin seemed remarkably lacklustre with the ball in one of the driest home series against the Kiwis. Nevertheless, nobody anticipated a mid-series retirement.
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