Ashwin: Player who never believed in playing it safe

The off-spinner decided to retire from international cricket at the end of the third Test against Australia

- Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI: Ravichandran Ashwin sparred with his insecurities as a child for far too long and perhaps didn't want to be dragged into a rigmarole of insecurities once again.

It is for this reason that an abrupt retirement from international cricket would not seem out of the blue for anyone who has followed the man's journey. It could have happened in Sydney after the fifth Test against Australia but he didn't want to hang around.

No one had to tell him that it was time to walk away from the game that consumed nearly three decades of his 38-year-old existence. Ashwin, the straight shooter, did a cameo presser to let the world know in John Denver style "My bags are packed and I am ready go".

He wore many hats as an active international cricketer and it would take just a five-minute conversation with him would be enough to know that he can see through word salad quite easily.

It is very difficult to stereotype Ashwin even after 14 years at the top level. The 765 international wickets are not a good enough data to decode the veteran, who admitted to being insecure as a kid in his book. He gradually won that battle with cricket playing a major role in shaping him into an assured person.

"I would rather fail in life than be absolutely safe. That's my character. I don't have the common insecurities that people have," Ashwin had recently said when the first part of his autobiography "I Have The Streets" released a few months back.

"If you go to the Casino, thinking of how much money you will make, you will pretty much end up without a rupee. But when you go with the intention of having fun and wanting to lose the money that you have, you always go back a much richer person. It was actually a big learning experience," he had said.

So when he told his teammates about his decision, he didn't care whether his 106 Test matches could become 107 or for that matter 108. It didn't matter anymore.