Ashwin’s call: No chat with selectors, but the decision to bid was on the cards after the NZ series

It is understood retirement was on the mind after the home series against New Zealand, which India shockingly lost 0-3. He had made it clear to the team management that if he was not assured of a place in the playing eleven during the Australia series, he would not even travel Down Under.

India played Washington Sundar ahead of Ashwin in Perth before the veteran returned to the pink-ball Test at Rohit’s insistence.

Ravindra Jadeja played in the Brisbane Test and as Rohit stated after the drawn third Test at the Gabba, nobody knew how the squad would shape up for the remaining two matches in Melbourne and Sydney.

“There was no push from the selection committee. Ashwin is a legend in Indian cricket and he has the right to take his own call,” a senior BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The next Test series is in England, where India may not bring more than two specialist spinners who are also batsmen. India’s next home Test series is in October-November.

So 10 months is a long time and once this World Test Championship cycle ends you are looking at 2027. Ashwin would have been 40 by then with the transition in Indian cricket hopefully complete.

Ashwin’s decision not to wait until the series against Australia is over also indicated that the decision to drop him to Washington for the opening match in Perth was what broke the proverbial camel’s back.

A shrewd reader of the game both on and off the field, Ashwin could have gauged what was in store going forward and that perhaps made it easier for him to take a call.

After 537 Test wickets, at the age of 38, and for a man who wore the India colors with a lot of pride, Ashwin didn’t want to just sit there in the dressing room wearing a fluorescent green bib reserved for the reserves.

The New Zealand series clearly gave the signs as he ended with nine wickets from three matches, two of which were played on custom surfaces in Pune and Mumbai.

Washington, by comparison, took 12 in Pune, a game in which Ashwin managed five.

Rohit was not present in Perth when the XI was finalised, and it could be safely concluded that it was coach Gautam Gambhir who had an influence on who will be India’s no. 1 off-spinner going forward and the name was not Ashwin .

When he joined the team, Rohit had to convince Ashwin to play in Adelaide.

“When I arrived in Perth it was a chat we had and I somehow convinced him to stay for the pink ball Test match and then after that it just happened… He felt that if I’m not needed right now in the series, I’m better off saying goodbye to the game,” India’s captain revealed.

“It’s important when a player like him, who has had so many moments with the Indian team and he’s been a really big match-winner for us, he’s allowed to make those decisions on his own and if it was now , so be it,” added Rohit.

Ashwin’s predecessor Harbhajan Singh felt that the Chennai man could have delayed this announcement until after the series.

“Numbers can’t lie and he’s got such a phenomenal record. Ideally I would have liked him to stay back for the last two Tests, like in Sydney, he could have played a part. But it’s an individual call,” he told PTI.

“When the name is as big as Ashwin, it’s the player who decides. Maybe he wouldn’t hang around,” said the ‘Turbantor’.

There is a thinking that even if India would have gone with two spinners in Sydney, conditions permitting, Jadeja would have been paired with Washington because both are considered more capable batsmen in SENA countries.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had announced his decision to retire from Test cricket after the third match in Melbourne, but it had a lot to do with long team sessions affecting his risky back and he desperately wanted to continue playing white-ball cricket.

In the case of Ashwin, the realization that he is not even considered among the top two spinners must have been too much to accept.

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