Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from international cricket, effective immediately. He revealed his decision after the rain-soaked third Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Brisbane’s Gabba finished in a tie.

“This will be my last year as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level,” Ashwin told reporters in Brisbane. “I feel like I still have some punch in me as a cricketer, but I’d like to express and exhibit that in club cricket.

“I have had a lot of fun. I’ve made many memories with Rohit [Sharma] and several of my teammates, even though some of them have retired in recent years. We can call ourselves the last of the originals. I’ll note this as the date I played at this level.

“Obviously, there are many people to thank, but I would be failing in my responsibilities if I did not thank the BCCI and my teammates. A few of them. I’d like to list a couple of them. All of the coaches who have taken part in the journey. Most importantly, Rohit, Virat [Kohli], Ajinkya [Rahane], and [Cheteshwar] Pujara have taken those superb catches around the bat to give me the number of wickets I’ve amassed over the years. Also, a special thanks to the Australian cricket team, who have been hard opponents. I’ve liked playing against them.”

“This was an extremely emotional occasion. I don’t think I’m in a position to properly answer the questions. Please excuse me for that. Thank you for being journalists who have written both positive and negative stories. That’s a friendship I believe we’ll have for the rest of our lives, and I hope future cricketers have the same level of support.”

However, Ashwin has declared that he would continue to play cricket. “See you soon. As a cricketer, I had simply finished playing. I might continue to be connected with the game because it has given me everything.

Ashwin finishes as India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, trailing Anil Kumble (619 wickets in 132 Tests), and seventh overall, with 537 wickets at an average of 24 in 106 Tests, including 37 five-wicket hauls. He tied Shane Warne for the second most fifers in Test cricket, after only Muttiah Muralitharan’s 67. He also won 11 Player of the Series accolades, tied with Muralitharan.

The pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide, which India lost by ten wickets, will be his final appearance in an Indian shirt. In that game, he returned with a 1/53 score. Prior to that, Ashwin took nine wickets at 41.22 in India’s 3-0 home Test series defeat to New Zealand.

In addition to his bowling prowess, Ashwin was an excellent batsman, scoring 3503 runs in Tests, including six hundreds and 14 fifties. While Ashwin was almost always a sure starter in India’s XI for home Tests, he was rarely used in international matches. With India next scheduled to play England on an away tour, Ashwin will be 39 at the start of the following home season.

When asked about Ashwin’s decision, India captain Rohit Sharma described it as a “personal decision” while adding that his absence will be felt.

“Some decisions are really personal, and I don’t believe too many questions should be addressed or raised. If a player has [made] a choice, he must be given that choice, and someone like Ashwin, who has been there for us for so many years, is entitled to make those types of decisions on his own, and we as teammates must accept that. He was certain of what he wanted to accomplish, and the team fully supported his decision,” Rohit said.

“Obviously, there’s a bit of a pause now, so for us as a team to regroup and gather our thoughts on this is critical right now. We have some time to deliberate about how we should continue. But Ash was certain of his decision.”

“When I first arrived in Perth, I heard about the retirement plan. certainly, I was not present for the first three or four days of the first Test match, but this has been on his mind since then, and there are certainly many factors that contributed to it. I’m very sure Ash will be able to answer that, but he understands what the team is thinking, what kind of combinations we’re thinking, and when we first arrived, we weren’t sure which spinner would play. We simply wanted to examine the conditions in front of us.

“But when I came in Perth, we had a conversation, and I somehow persuaded him to stay for the pink-ball Test match, and then it just happened that if he felt I wasn’t needed right now in the series, I’d be better off saying goodbye to the game.

“But we haven’t gone to Melbourne yet, so we don’t know what kind of conditions we can expect there or what kind of combination. But, having Ash in mind, we should respect him and allow him to believe the way he does. And we should all support what he is thinking at this moment.

“That is what I am thinking right now, and that is the type of conversation Gautam Gambhir and I have had as well. It’s critical that a guy like him, who has had so many moments with the Indian team and has been a true match-winner for us, is given the freedom to make such decisions on his own, and if it happens now, so be it.”

Ashwin, who was a member of India’s victorious sides for the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy, also played 116 ODIs and 65 T20Is, taking 156 and 72 wickets, respectively. His last ODI was against Australia in the 2023 World Cup in Chennai, where he returned with statistics of 1/34, while his last T20I was a 2022 World Cup semi-final loss to England in Adelaide.