R Ashwin’s Sudden Retirement Points To A Bigger Problem In Indian Cricket

"Humiliation was going on," Mr Ravichandran said of his son's abrupt retirement from all forms of international cricket. "How long can he tolerate all this?" 

His son, R Ashwin, made light of the statement. In a Tamil riff that colloquially translates into 'Oy, Pops, what's all this then?', Ashwin made the point that his father is not media trained. 

The only way to read this is that his father committed the cardinal error of publicly airing private dinner table conversations; that whatever Ashwin's feelings are about how he was treated in the team dressing room, they were never meant to be part of the public discourse. 

For the official record, Ashwin's 'truly emotional moment', when on December 18 he announced that 'This will be my last day as an India cricketer in all formats at the international level', stands — and so it should.

And yet, I wonder. I wonder whether the seeds of today's discomforts were sown way back in June 2023, when the 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle climaxed at The Oval.

Years In The Making?

Since the inaugural WTC cycle, Ashwin has been India's most consistent performer with the ball. In the 2019-21 cycle, he was the leading wicket-taker worldwide, with 71 wickets in 14 Tests; the Indian bowler closest to him in the rankings was Mohammed Shami, at number 10, with 40 wickets in 11 Tests.

In the 2021-23 championship cycle, Ashwin with 61 wickets in 13 matches ranked third in the list of top wicket-takers behind Nathan Lyon and Kagiso Rabada. Jadeja, with 47 wickets in 13 Tests, ranked 10th — and yet it was Jadeja, not Ashwin, who got to play in that final at the Oval that saw India lose to Australia by 209 runs.

On the day Ashwin announced his retirement, he was ranked fifth in the ICC's list of top bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah was top-ranked; Ravindra Jadeja, who is deemed a better pick than Ashwin, was ranked 10th (a drop of three places, pointing to the all-rounder's diminishing marginal returns as a bowler).

But more to the point, in the ongoing WTC cycle, Ashwin is the second-highest wicket taker with 63 wickets in 14 Tests, shaded only by Bumrah with 66 wickets in 13 Tests. Despite this, team selections during the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy have clearly signaled that Ashwin is seen as superfluous to requirements.

As I write this on Christmas Day, the Indian team is prepping for the fourth Test of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between December 26-30. The team goes into this Test, and the final one at Sydney in the new year, knowing that it is still a chance to make the WTC final — and for this, Ashwin deserves a considerable part of the credit. 

It is not just that he is the second-highest wicket-taker in this cycle. When India took on Bangladesh in a two-Test series in September-October of this year, the team needed to win both to keep its hopes alive. It did — and Ashwin played a leading role, with a century (his sixth and, as it turned out, last in Tests) and 6 for 88 in the second innings of the first Test that won him the Man of the Match award, and five wickets in the second Test to earn Player of the Series (his record-equaling 11th).

India has played three Tests in the ongoing BGT. Ashwin was picked for only one of those. More to the point, buzz is that he was — and he knew this — unlikely to be picked for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests. After this tour, India's next Test engagement is a tour of England — and again, Ashwin was unlikely to make the touring party.

For a cricketer who has worn his pride in playing for India on his sleeve, the message that being the world's second most successful bowler over this championship cycle is not enough to earn him a permanent place in the XI could conceivably be 'humiliating' — the word his father used in that post-retirement press interaction.

There are two arguments that seek to explain Ashwin's plight. The first is that either Washington Sundar or Ravindra Jadeja are the more logical picks, particularly in away games, to "strengthen the batting". 

God knows the batting could do with some strengthening — the well-documented travails of the top order in the ongoing series in Australia apart, recall that in that first Test against Bangladesh, India's top six of Yashasvi Jaiswal (56), Rohit Sharma (6), Shubman Gill (0), Virat Kohli (6), Rishabh Pant (39) and KL Rahul (16) cumulatively scored 123. Against that, it was Ashwin's 113 and his 199-run 7th wicket partnership with Jadeja (86) that saved India's blushes and put the team in a position to win. 

The other argument commonly advanced is that Ashwin is increasingly ineffective when travelling, particularly in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries. And the short answer to that is, well, which Indian spinner is consistently effective in those conditions?

The longer, more nuanced answer is that the numbers are not conclusive, one way or the other. Since he made his debut in November 2011, India has played 25 Tests in SENA countries where Ashwin was part of the mix, and won 4 (lost 17, drawn 4). Against that, India has played 23 Tests in SENA nations without Ashwin, winning 8 and losing 11. The numbers do not make a definitive case.

From the point of view of individual performance, Ashwin has 383 wickets in 65 home Tests and 150 wickets in 40 away Tests; he averages 21.57 at home and 30.55 away. Clearly, there is a substantive difference between his performance at home and away. Couple that with the fact that Ashwin is 38, and you can't quarrel too strenuously with the team management's view of his utility.

Bad Management

The question is not so much whether the management call, that Ashwin is nearing his use-by date, is the right one. The question — and this is one that has long plagued Indian cricket — is whether the management handled the sunset years of an authentic Indian great with understanding and empathy.

No player, and certainly not one of Ashwin's proven abilities, deserves to live from match to match never knowing whether he will get to play. When he was included in the squad for the Australian tour, what was the management thinking? Did the team's think tank see a role for Ashwin in the five Tests -- and if so, what?

More importantly, did the management clearly communicate its thoughts with the player? All indications are that it did not — and that it is this uncertainty that prompted Ashwin to abruptly end his career in the middle of a tour he had signed up for.

The stars who powered India's purple patch in Test cricket — Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, even KL Rahul — are nearing their use-by dates, and their replacements are yet to find their feet. How gracefully they leave, and how empathetically the establishment handles this transition will tell us much — about the stars, but equally about Indian cricket itself.

Postscript: Ashwin's abrupt exit from centrestage triggered a flood of heartfelt tributes from greats past and present — but none as moving as this letter written by the player's wife, Prithi. Read.

MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Receive Honest News Today

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Sign up today!

If you enjoyed reading The Playbook, please share it with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Write to us on our feedback email (feedback@thecore.in) or reply to this email to contribute thoughts, criticism, and even ideas about things you think are worth writing about.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe