Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said Ravichandran Ashwin might have decided to retire from international cricket when Washington Sundar was picked before him in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 first Test. He also added that Ashwin might have been convinced to take the call once Ravindra Jadeja replaced him in the XI for the third Test and played an important knock.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “A time comes in everyone’s life when you feel whether you want to bear this anymore. He would have had the regret for a long time that he doesn’t play in overseas games. He is not the No. 1 spin option when it comes to the overseas games. That was going on for a long time but he made peace with it as Jaddu is a generational talent and bats better than him, and only one spinner could play. Jaddu used to be ahead of him whenever overseas matches used to come. However, when Washington Sundar played in the Perth match, he said that’s it.”

“You played him the pink-ball match and then as soon as you dropped him in Gabba, he said – ‘It’s done, you people aren’t serious about playing me as I haven’t done anything wrong.’ Jaddu also scored runs there, so it’s unlikely you will play him in Melbourne, and will also play Washington Sundar ahead of him anytime,” he shared again.

In the same video, Aakash Chopra added that Ravichandran Ashwin’s absence in the middle of the series has left India a spinner short, with the likes of Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav unavailable.

“He has left in the middle of the series, so another question arises – what about the team’s composition and balance now? It’s the right question because you needed three spinners in the series squad. So you should call a replacement for him, either Axar or Kuldeep if he is available, but nothing of that sort has happened,” Aakash Chopra concluded.