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Ravichandran Ashwin's decision to retire midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 has caught many people by surprise. The 38-year-old called time on an illustrious career on Wednesday, having picked up 537 games in 106 Tests. Now, reports have revealed that Ashwin's decision has been to do with two factors - injury problems and his future in India's Test team. Reportedly, Ashwin was contemplating his retirement prior to the first Test in Perth, but had not finalised his decision yet. Ashwin had informed his family of the retirement decision just the night before.
According to a report by The Indian Express, Ashwin's persistent knee problem had forced him to contemplate retirement ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Along with that, Ashwin has also likely taken his decision keeping in mind his future with Team India in Test cricket.
Ashwin has played only one out of the three Tests so far in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, seeing himself out of favour for both Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the other two games. The report suggests that Ashwin's injury struggles at the age of 38 and him not being a consistent starter in overseas conditions led to the abrupt decision.
The report states that Ashwin had informed his family that he was considering retirement before heading to Australia for the first Test, to which his family had advised him to think through. Once Ashwin made the decision, his family only reportedly got to know on Tuesday night.
The report also states that each player of the current Indian team had been informed separately by Ashwin about his retirement, and the general response from his teammates was shock.
Ashwin's final Test was the pink-ball second Test in Adelaide, which India lost by 10 wickets. Ashwin took a single wicket, that of Mitchell Marsh, finishing with figures of 1/53 in 18 overs.