R Ashwin, on Tuesday, announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League, and it has been speculated that he might move and ply his trade in various franchise leagues. Former Indian selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth felt that Ashwin could have played another couple of years in the league and then should have moved on.
“I am not sure why Ashwin retired. If I were in his place, I would have continued playing IPL for atleast another two years. Ofcourse for Ashwin, money, fame or name is not an issue. He has all of those in abundance. But, he could have played in the IPL for another two years and then gone on to play in the other leagues.”
“Probably, other Indian cricketers will also follow this approach of playing in other leagues once their time in the IPL is up. However, the recognition and visibility a player gets in the IPL, is much higher than those from all leagues. So, one can play other leagues for the sake of it but what you get in the IPL, other leagues don’t come close to it.”
“Ashwin has been one of the best IPL cricketers India has produced. His name to fame itself was through the IPL. Though he had done well in the domestic competitions and for India in Tests, but he was first recognised through the IPL and CSK, especially when he kept dismissng Chris Gayle for fun,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).
“He was both an attacking and an economical bowler in the IPL. I am only surprised that he is walking away in the middle of a three-year cycle after the Mega auction last year. In a way, it’s a good sign that players retiring from India can become coaches or players in foreign leagues.”
With the ball overall, Ashwin picked up 187 wickets from 221 games at an average of 30.22 and economy of 7.20 in IPL, and with the bat, he scored 833 runs coming down the order with a solitary half-century to his name.
