Ashwin's call and why retirement can be fresh start

Ashwin's sudden turn — midway through a Test series — has shocked everyone.

- Amrit Mathur

Ashwin's sudden turn midway through a Test series has shocked everyone. It seems he ended his glorious spell angry/frustrated/disappointed; he wasn't central to the Indian team's plans anymore.

This raises the question: when, and how, does a champion player decide it's time to go? Bumrah's guided missiles take less than a second to reach the batsman—in that brief moment, the batsman has to decide whether to play or leave, defend or look to score. But about retirement, players have all the time in the world to think, though it's never easy to slip into an uncertain afterlife.

Recently, some greats have done that. When Tim Southee ended a fantastic career, the England team gave him a cricket "guard of honour". Before that, Jimmy Anderson and David Warner retired in somewhat similar circumstances. Anderson's farewell was on a gorgeous sunlit morning at Lord's. The Test ended before lunch on Day 3, but an almost full house waited respectfully till mid-afternoon to celebrate the extraordinary career (188 Tests, 704 wickets) of England's greatest. Warner's last dance was at Sydney, his home ground, ending a spectacular 15-year-old career that brought him 20,000 international runs and 48 hundreds.

Anderson and Warner were allowed a grand departure, their final Test appearance announced in advance to give them a dignified exit in front of adoring fans. Both, however, were gently nudged into retirement.