"He could have played the World Test Championship 2025-2027 cycle" - R Ashwin's childhood coach surprised by off-spinner's decision to retire

Ravichandran Ashwin's childhood coach Sunil Subramaniam has expressed surprise over the off-spinner's decision to retire from international cricket after the third Test against Australia on Wednesday, December 18. According to Subramaniam, the 38-year-old could have featured in the 2025-2027 World Test Championship cycle.

Ashwin took both the cricketing world and fans by surprise by announcing his decision to retire from international cricket after The Gabba Test ended in a draw. The off-spinner played only one of the three Tests held in the series so far, registering figures of 1-53 from 18 overs in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.

Speaking to Rediff.com, Subramaniam opined that the off-spinner still had some cricket left in him. He, however, added that he respects Ashwin's decision to retire since the bowler might have had his own reasons to do so. He said:

"I was very surprised. He could have played the World Test Championship 2025-2027 cycle, there were quite a few home Tests, he could have called it quits after that. But he has retired now, we got to respect his decision, maybe he had his reasons.”

Subramanian, who coached Ashwin until 2014, described the Tamil Nadu cricketer as someone who was absolutely fearless and a thinking person.

"He was absolutely fearless. He always wanted to try out new things, to keep evolving, setbacks seemed to push him to do better. He has always a thinking person. He was his own man. It was his fearlessness, Ashwin was absolutely fearless. The brain would always react first, he was an intelligent cricketer, a good thinking cricketer,” Subramanian added, while speaking about his famous ward.

After the India vs Australia Test at The Gabba ended in a draw on Wednesday, Ashwin accompanied skipper Rohit Sharma at the post-match press conference and announced his decision to retire. He, however, did not take any questions from the media.

---

Ravichandran Ashwin finishes as India’s second-leading wicket-taker in Test cricket

Ashwin finished his illustrious career as India’s second-leading wicket-taker in the Test format after Anil Kumble (619). He played 106 Tests and picked up 537 wickets at an average of 24, with 37 five-fers and eight 10 wicket-match hauls. The 38-year-old was also a handy lower-order batter. He scored 3,503 Test runs at an average of 25.75, with six hundreds and 14 fifties.