Ashwin’s retirement discussion

Ashwin apparently wanted to retire after the NZ series, acknowledging that he wasn’t at his best. Someone, likely Rohit, convinced him to stay, believing Ashwin’s experience and wicket-taking ability would be crucial for the Australia series, especially after the 3-0 loss to NZ. The batters haven’t performed, and the Indian management seems to expect a bowler to bail them out. To be fair to Ashwin, he didn’t perform well in just one series, and he gets dropped. How many runs has Kohli scored in the last few series? It seems Kohli has one set of rules, and Ashwin has another. After the NZ series, Ashwin likely expressed his intent to retire, saying something along the lines of, “I haven’t played well, so I’ll just retire.” GG probably agreed to this. However, Rohit, knowing we needed a comprehensive win against Australia, convinced Ashwin to stay, likely feeling Ashwin’s wicket-taking ability was a better fit for this series than Sundar. (This isn’t about Ashwin vs. Jadeja—Jadeja has played far more matches, and Ashwin has been fine with that. The debate is between Ashwin and Sundar, both being finger off-spinners. Ashwin goes for wickets, which results in a higher economy, while Sundar is more economical and offers batting depth.) GG and the management might have gone with Sundar, believing he was the safer choice based on form and batting contributions. However, the same yardstick hasn’t been applied to the Indian batters. With Rohit’s injury, the management made a power move and picked Sundar over Ashwin. From Ashwin’s perspective, this must have been deeply frustrating: “I wanted to retire, you convinced me to stay for the big series, and now you’re not playing me? Instead, you pick another off-spinner over me?” The dressing room environment must have been tense with these internal issues. Ashwin might have retired mid-series to avoid adding to the tension. This decision now gives Sundar more confidence, as he won’t have to worry about losing his place with Ashwin in the background. But is this how you treat a player who has won 37 Man of the Match trophies? Ashwin has been phenomenal for India, especially at home, and has bailed us out numerous times with both bat and ball. While I understand Rohit’s decision to back Ashwin, if the management had already decided against picking him, Ashwin should have retired before the series. With this batting lineup, we could struggle without Ashwin. Our primary batters haven’t played spin well for a while, and the lower order has often bailed us out. Meanwhile, the bowlers have consistently taken wickets to keep us in games. This situation likely wouldn’t have happened under Dravid or Shastri, as they would’ve looked at the bigger picture: “Ashwin is going through a tricky phase, so let’s manage egos and emotions, and support him to come back and win games.” GG and Agarkar seem to have missed this perspective, while Rohit clearly understood it. GG, especially, is in place to handle situations like this. Ashwin’s retirement has now put immense pressure on the batters, who haven’t performed well for the last six months. If Ashwin had retired after the series, this wouldn’t even be a talking point. Now, people will judge him for “throwing tantrums,” but others will also start questioning players who haven’t performed to the best of their abilities. Pujara, Rahane, and Shreyas Iyer didn’t get a big rope, but some other batters seem to have been given much leeway.