There was the mandatory shower of flower petals, lots of smiles and a live band too as Ravichandran Ashwin returned home on Thursday after his shock international retirement in the middle of a Test series in Australia, insisting that he made an “instinctive” decision and is walking away with “zero regrets”.
He landed at the Chennai International Airport early this morning and was escorted out by officials of the state cricket association. The 38-year-old owner of 765 international wickets did not speak to the waiting media there as he hopped into his car where his wife Prithi and two daughters were waiting for him.
However, once he reached home and was surrounded by his parents, and other well-wishers, Ashwin did oblige the waiting newspersons, opening up a bit about his decision.
“It’s emotional for a lot of people, and may be it will sink in (in some time) but for me, personally, it is a great sense of relief and satisfaction. It was very instinctive and it has been running in my head for a while. I just felt (it) on Day 4 and I just called it a day,” Ashwin said, referring to the drawn third Test in Brisbane.