Without doubt, many eyebrows will be raised on Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden retirement, that too in the middle of the Test series in Australia (“Ashwin Retires with a Spin,” Dec.19, Gulf Today website).
Of course, something has been brewing immediately after the 3-0 series loss to New Zealand in India.

Though he was not a failure, but still at times he was proved ineffective like every bowler in our team. To be frank, it was the batsmen who failed our team, not only against New Zealand, but even against Australia now. Added to the woe was the selection of players at the whims of coach and captain. Ashwin has always been a team man and never wanted to be just a passenger in the team.
Anyway, now that he has announced his retirement he will be sorely missed at Melbourne and Sydney Tests. We wish his successor, most probably Washington Sunder, in the remaining tests. Of course, for that our batsmen should play their roles to perfection to give enough cushion for our bowlers to bowl out the opponents twice.

Capt. N. Viswanathan, Coimbatore, India