Despite the Brisbane Test draw, India had a sad day, as the 38-year-old Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket. 

After the end of the Brisbane Test, Ashwin announced his international cricket retirement. In the press conference, the legendary off-spinner said, "This will be my last year as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level. I feel there's a little bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I'd like to express that, showcase that in club-level cricket."

Skipper Rohit Sharma, who was sitting beside Ashwin, said, "Ashwin wanted to announce his retirement at Perth Test, but we convinced him to stay at pink ball Test." 

🫂💙🇮🇳

Emotional moments from the Indian dressing room 🥹#AUSvINDOnStar #BorderGavaskarTrophy #Ashwin #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/92a4NqNsyP

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 18, 2024

See Also: Border-Gavaskar Trophy: The endgame for Indian cricket stars

Ashwin in the ongoing BGT 2024-25

In the ongoing five-match Test series in Australia, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, Ashwin played the second Test of the series. It was the day-night pink ball Test match, where Ashwin scored 22 and seven runs and picked up one wicket. However, India lost that Test match by ten wickets, and the hosts made the series 1-1 level. 

While Jasprit Bumrah-led team India went with Washington Sundar in the Test series opener at Perth, which India won by 295 runs, Ravindra Jadeja was selected in the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team for the Brisbane Test, where the all-rounder had an important role for the draw result. 

Ashwin's incredible career stats; first Indian bowler with 50 T20I wickets

Ashwin ended his international career with 537 Test wickets, 156 ODI wickets, and 72 T20I wickets. He was the first Indian bowler to record 50 T20I wickets. The off-spinner finished his Test career as the second most wicket-taker by an Indian bowler, as the off-spinner is behind the legendary Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who had 619 Test wickets. 

With 765 international wickets, the off-spinner Ashwin ended as the second-leading wicket-taker for India in international cricket. Once again, Kumble is on top of this list with 953 international wickets.

In international cricket, Ashwin ended as the seventh most Test wicket-taker and 11th most international wicket-taker. 

Ashwin was also a dependable batter

The right-handed batter also scored 3503 Test runs, 707 ODI runs, and 184 T20I runs. He hit six centuries and 14 half-centuries in his Test career and one half-century in his ODI career. With four Test centuries at no.8 or lower, Ashwin holds the record for second most Test centuries at no.8 or lower, as the former New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori has the record with five Test centuries. Also, with 2403 Test runs at no.8 or lower batting position, Ashwin finished in the fifth position in the list of most run-scorers in the lower-order batting position (8-11). 

3500 runs and 500 wickets in Test career

Ashwin is the only second batter in Test cricket history to score 3500 runs and also picked up 500 wickets. The other name is the former English pacer Stuart Broad, who scored 3662 Test runs and took 604 Test wickets. 

Two ICC trophies

Ashwin was a playing member of India's ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy-winning campaign. He was also a key member of India's ICC Champions Trophy 2013 trophy-winning journey, where he successfully delivered the final over of the rain-curtailed final against the hosts England. He successfully defended 15 runs in the final over as India won that match by five runs. He ended that tournament final with the bowling figures of 4-1-15-2.