Former legendary Indian off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from all forms of the game on Wednesday (December 18). It was an emotional end to a career that had spanned for over a decade with Ashwin giving it his all with the bat and ball. The 38-year-old may have retired from top-flight cricket but he will continue to play for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
Ashwin played 65 games in the T20I format and scalped 72 wickets with the ball, including the best of ‘4 wickets at just 8 runs in a match.’ The veteran star also scored 184 runs with a best of 31 not out. Ashwin made his T20I debut in 2010 against Zimbabwe where he picked the wicket of Tatenda Taibu to end with the bowling figures of 1/22.
The last match for Ashwin in the game’s shortest format was against England during the T20 World Cup 2022. India lost the game to the eventual winners in the semi-finals in Adelaide by ten wickets and the selectors didn’t consider the veteran spinner for a recall in this format.
Top 3 most memorable moments of Ravichandran Ashwin in T20I:
3. Magical spell against Sri Lanka in 2016
Ashwin was in contention for a place in the team just before the T20 World Cup 2016 under MS Dhoni. During the final game of the series against Sri Lanka in Vizag, Ashwin showed his mastery with the ball, picking 4/8 in his four-over sting, including a maiden over. Sri Lanka were all out for just 82 runs with just 2 batters reaching double figures.
Opening the bowling, Ashwin dismissed both openers Niroshan Dickwella and T Dilshan for 1 run each. The wily spinner then dismissed Dinesh Chandimal caught by Hardik Pandya for 8 and Asela Gunaratne caught by Suresh Raina on 4. Eventually, the men in blue won the game by 9 wickets.
2. Dream ball to Hashim Amla
India was playing South Africa in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022. The former Proteas batting great, Hashim Amla was in the form of his life and was expected to pose a huge problem to the Indian side. Ashwin though nipped it in the bud and bowled a ball that was hailed as the best in the world.
Coming round the wicket, Ashwin pitched the ball on the leg stump as Amla stood transfixed to see the delivery turn a long way and take the top of his off stump. Adam Gilchrist wrote on Twitter “T20 ball of the century from Ashwin”
1. Presence of mind against Pakistan
The India vs Pakistan game at MCG is known as the ‘Virat Kohli game’ for his remarkable and iconic ‘82 not out’. As the game went into the last over, Dinesh Karthik was stumped off the penultimate ball. At that stage, India needed 2 runs to win from 1 ball with Mohammad Nawaz bowling to Ashwin.
The Pakistan bowler tried to deceive Ashwin by bowling on his pads which the Indian star negated by making a last-minute move and the ball was called wide. With the tie now secured, Ashwin hit the last ball of the game over the top for four runs to secure a famous win for India.
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