Ravichandran Ashwin makes staggering 'decided to quit cricket' revelation after playing 100 Tests

Ravichandran Ashwin was on the verge of quitting his professional cricketing career and pursuing a degree in Master of Business Administration (MBA) back in 2017 when his career went upside down. Ashwin had experienced a horrific Champions Trophy edition that year and his white-ball future was quickly up for debate, mainly due to his underwhelming performance in the final.

While speaking to the Indian Express recently, Ravichandran Ashwin made this admission about the turmoil he experienced in his career 7 years ago. And if someone fast-forwards to 2024 from 2017, Ashwin has 100 Test appearances, and has followed the footsteps of the great Anil Kumble in becoming only the 2nd Indian to complete 500 Test scalps.

Ravichandran Ashwin says he wanted to excel in Marketing field

While describing the “darkest phase” of his career that came in 2017, Ravichandran Ashwin emotionally said that he wanted to excel in the field of Marketing after asking himself the type of field he could get into. Ashwin, who was 30 years old at that time, had made up his mind to quit cricket as he thought that he might not have many years left.

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Usually, (not every) but certain players become rusty and demotivated after crossing the age of 30 and so was Ashwin but it would be fair to say that it was cricket that didn’t want to let him go.

“I decided to quit cricket. I was asking myself what I would do? And I said whatever I do in life, I would try to achieve excellence and be as good as I can be in that profession. I would probably try to do an MBA and probably be in marketing,” Ravichandran Ashwin told Indian Express.

Then he went on to state that his family including his wife Prithi Ashwin, were backing him to continue his cricketing career. He then drew comparisons between cricket and a government job, claiming that the sport is similar to the corporate world where there is a hint of some governmental activities.

“I would say cricket, in many ways, is a corporate affair with a little bit of governmental organizational activities and attributes,” Ashwin added.

Ravichandran Ashwin throwbacks to the darkest phase of his life and reveals a heated chat with his Father

Ravichandran Ashwin went on to describe the darkest phase of his career when he used to lock himself inside his room for several hours and didn’t come out to even talk to anyone. He gave a throwback to the time when his room used to be fully dark and when he did not even want to watch a game of cricket properly. That says a lot about the time and the kind of depression he went through.

“I thought I am putting people in my house through a lot. I used to lock myself in the room. I never watched cricket. My room used to be dark all the time.”

Then he also revealed the heated argument he had with his father at that time who was scolding him for his truthful self and his honesty that made him a subject of being screwed.

“My dad and I fight a lot. And he eventually threw a statement, ‘You know what? You are too upright and honest. That’s why you are getting screwed. I cried for a long time. I just didn’t expect my dad to say that. I don’t think he even realized what he did,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.