New Delhi: Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden retirement has shocked the entire sporting world. The sudden retirement announcement of the right-arm off-spinner has generated a lot of speculation in the sporting world.
Now, the actual reason behind Ashwin’s retirement has been revealed by the off-spinner who as it seems wants to put an end to the brewing speculations around his retirement.
Read more: Narendra Modi pens down his thought in an emotional letter for Ravichandran Ashwin
Why did R Ashwin leave the game abruptly?
The real reason why Ashwin retired as revealed by the Indian cricketer to Sky Sports:
I’ve never been a person who holds onto things, I’ve never felt insecure in life. I don’t believe what is mine today is going to be mine tomorrow. That has probably been one of my elevating factors all these years.
I always wanted to leave things behind as nonchalantly as I could because I do not believe in people celebrating me, I don’t believe in the attention we get sometimes in India. It is the game that always stood ahead of me, all the time.
I did contemplate [retirement] a few times. For me, the day I woke up and felt the creative side of me didn’t have a future or direction, that would be the day I would give it up. I suddenly felt that the creative side didn’t have a lot of upsides to explore. Moreover, I just gave it my all, despite knowing it’s not the popular or accepted method. My journey is completely mine.
I’ve seen a lot of cricketers over the years with exceptional skill and talent, but the ability to articulate or teach another person about it is something that is very unique and comes across to people only if they have explored it themselves.
The amount of exploration I have had to do to be very successful has left me with a wide variety of knowledge to be able to say, with confidence, that this is a game I love and can explore and brutally talk about for the rest of my life.
I’ve got no regrets because I’ve had to do it the hard way, but it has left me with the idea that the game has been my calling. People find their calling at different stages of their life but I’m so glad this game found me and it has given me meaning to life.
I’ve played Test cricket for so long that it’s even taught me how to construct and live my life. It’s the most beautiful thing that has happened to me.
(Source: Sky Sports Interview translated by NDTV Sports)