"People Don't Understand Emotions"- Ravichandran Ashwin shoots Gautam Gambhir on retirement

Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has taken an indirect dig at India head coach Gautam Gambhir while opening up on his retirement from international cricket.

The veteran off-spinner, who is currently plying his trade for Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing IPL 2025, stunned the cricketing world by announcing his retirement mid-way through the tour of Australia last season.

He did not play in the first Test in Perth before being recalled in the playing eleven for the second Test in Adelaide.

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Ashwin didn't get to play in Australia

With India losing the match, Ravichandran Ashwin was dropped from the playing eleven once again for the third Test in Brisbane. After the conclusion of the Test in Brisbane, Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket.

He recently opened up on his retirement while speaking on CSK's podcast show, Mike Testing 123, with former Australian and CSK batsman Mike Hussey. Ravichandran Ashwin said that he wanted to retire from international cricket after the Chennai Test against Bangladesh, where he scored a century and picked up a six-wicket haul.

He wanted to retire on a high, and the all-round performance at his home ground gave him the perfect stage to bid adieu. However, Ravichandran Ashwin eventually decided against it, and things went downhill after that for the Indian team as well as him. He also disclosed that

"To be very honest, I wanted to do it after my 100th Test. And then I thought, Ok, let me give it a go in the home season. Because, I mean, you’re playing well and you’re getting wickets, you’re making runs.

"So I thought it does make sense to play a bit. I was having a lot of fun, but the whole hard yards that I had to put through to put myself on the park again, physically and mentally, one of the most important things for me that was pulling me down was the family time," Ashwin said.

Ravichandran Ashwin on his retirement:

Speaking further, Ravichandran Ashwin opened up on his ordeal when Team India suffered heavy losses against New Zealand and Australia. He said that even though things were not going well for him, he decided to travel to Australia.

Having done well on the previous Australia tour, Ravichandran Ashwin was expected to be a part of the India playing eleven from the very first Test. However, the team management decided against it as Washington Sundar was preferred ahead of him for the Perth Test. He also spoke about his emotional battle and the lack of support from others.

Ashwin says he wanted to retire after the Chennai Test

"I thought I’ll probably close off (with) the Chennai Test here. I ended up getting a six-wicket haul and a hundred. So it’s very tough to quit when you’re doing very well. So, I went on with the series, and we lost against New Zealand. So one after the other, it was just building up. And then I thought, okay, let me go to Australia. Let me see how this goes.

"Because the last time I was in Australia, I had a great, great tour. And when I didn’t start in Perth, it was like, okay, this whole circle keeps going again. People add very little value to what you’re going through emotionally. They don’t really consider that because your emotions are yours, and it doesn’t matter to anybody else. So I had been contemplating that, and then I thought, okay, maybe it is time," said Ravichandran Ashwin.

Ashwin is presently busy playing the IPL, where he has not really managed to make a big impact so far. In 7 games so far, he has managed to pick up only 5 wickets.

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