Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Ravichandran Ashwin decided to retire from international cricket when he was virtually at the peak of his game. He stated that fans believe the wily off-spinner could have played for a little longer as well. The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 between India and Australia ended in a draw in Brisbane on Wednesday, December 18 as well. In the post-match press conference, Ashwin, who didn’t play in this match, announced his retirement from international cricket.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “He recently scored a hundred against Bangladesh. India were 144/6. It was probably the best century of his career. So he has actually said goodbye when everyone is saying he could have stayed back. Only the New Zealand series was not good,” he said. “It’s paramount that you leave when people ask why are you leaving. He did not go when people were asking when are you going. Ravichandran Ashwin decided to go on his own terms. He has been absolutely outstanding,” Chopra added.

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In the same video, Aakash Chopra also picked Ravichandran Ashwin’s intelligence as one of the attributes that make him special as well.

“There are two or three huge aspects that make Ravichandran Ashwin very special. One is his intelligence. When the ball used to get released from his hand, it seemed like he was setting a trap. This is Test cricket’s biggest beauty, that you lay a trap, and the batters used to get trapped despite knowing everything. He had variation in flight and speed but along with that consistency. Very few people talk about patience for bowlers. We generally ask batters to have patience, to play like (Cheteshwar) Pujara, (KL) Rahul or Rahul Dravid, but the spinner has to create boredom by bowling at one spot repeatedly. He has bored people out,” Chopra elaborated.