Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will go down as one of India's greatest players after retiring from international cricket on Wednesday aged 38.
India's spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket in all formats after the third Test against Australia finished in a draw in Brisbane on Wednesday.
After a surprising series defeat by New Zealand, India's skipper Rohit Sharma said undue expectation was being put on frontline spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, as he called for more collective bowling efforts to win Test matches.
Despite Ashwin's impeccable red-ball record, Panesar asserted that he won't fit into England's current Test Cricket set-up.
India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin is 38. Yet he appears to be just easing into the process of refining his art, ball by ball. His delivery that beat Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque on Day 4 of the first Test in Chennai yesterday was so belligerent that it almost defied any explanation.
Following his impressive hundred on the first day of the Test that rescued India from a dire 144-6 in the first innings, Ashwin picked up a six-wicket haul on the fourth day to spin his side a mammoth 280-run win.
Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin said Sunday he wanted to keep playing well beyond his 38 years, even as younger teammates scale back their own cricket careers.
Ashwin said his recent stint with the Dindigul Dragons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) helped him figure out a way to score runs.
Three years since his last Test hundred, which also came at the very same venue, Ravichandran Ashwin cracked his sixth Test hundred to lift India from the gloom on day one of the first Test against Bangladesh.
India's chess great Viswanathan Anand took to social media last week congratulating Ravichandran Ashwin on the cricketer's 100th Test and asking if the spinner fancied a game of chess with him.
England, chasing a consolation victory in the five-match Test series against India, will be banking on two pacers and two spinners to do the trick in the final game in Dharamsala on Thursday. .England announced their lone change for the game, with seamer Ollie Robinson making way for fast
Ponting worked closely with Ashwin at Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where the former Australian captain is the head coach.
Ashwin, 37, is set to reach the landmark in the fifth and final match of England's tour starting Thursday in the brisk Himalayan hill town of Dharamsala.
India reached 40-0 at stumps, needing another 152 to win their third straight match and the five-Test series.
Ben Duckett hit 153 and skipper Ben Stokes made 41 in his 100th Test but England lost wickets at regular intervals
India's Ravichandran Ashwin withdrew from the ongoing third Test against England on Friday due to "a family medical emergency", just hours after becoming only the ninth player in history to take 500 Test wickets.
Opener Ben Duckett smashed a century to lead England's attacking reply of 207-2 on Friday after Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reached 500 Test wickets in the third match of the series.
Ashwin became only the ninth bowler to hit the landmark and only the second from India after Anil Kumble (619)
Ben Stokes will earn his 100th Test cap when he leads England against India in the third Test beginning Thursday in Rajkot, with both sides having to contend with the absence of key players.
