During the IPL 2025, the Tamil Nadu-based player scalped seven wickets across nine matches.
The former India player, Ravichandran Ashwin, announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday. The last time he played in the league transpired during the 2025 season, where he donned the Yellow jersey for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). A veteran off-spinner was acquired for a whopping 9.75 crore by the franchise.
Ashwin declared his retirement after playing a total of 220 IPL matches, where he took 187 wickets at an average of 30.22 with best figures of 4/34. With the bat, he collected 833 runs with a highest of 50 and an average of 13.02. During the IPL 2025, the Tamil Nadu-based player scalped seven wickets across nine matches.
Ashwin stated that he did think about playing in the IPL next season, but citing his age, the recovery process is taxing. He also lauded MS Dhoni and said that he was surprised to see him play in the IPL. Despite playing in competitive cricket for just three months a year since 2020, Ashwin expressed his amazement at the brilliance of his former India and CSK captain.
“I thought about playing the IPL next year. But three months of IPL started feeling a bit too long. It’s why I am amazed by someone like MS Dhoni. Though he plays only those three months of IPL, as you age, the bandwidth for those three months keeps reducing. It’s not easy with travel, playing the match and the recovery process. As you age, recovery reduces. And this travel-match-recovery cycle becomes an emotional rollercoaster,” Ashwin explained on his YouTube channel.
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Ashwin also spoke about his possibilities as a coach. According to the 38-year-old player, he is ready to take up the coaching role but on his own terms.
“Someone like me, If I don’t sleep by 11 PM, I can’t sleep well. And when you play the IPL, you’ll sleep only by 2 or 3 AM. So doing that in three months made me think deeply, especially about my health. Then, I thought, ‘Should I immediately go for a coaching role?’ I am ready for coaching but on my own terms. So I thought I should play more as I still have something left. So, I want to play and explore,” he added.
Ashwin, who is one of the greatest spinners to have played the sport, announced his international retirement midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia last year. He finished his Test career with 537 wickets in a total of 106 Test matches. Legendary off-spinner also notched up 37 five-wicket hauls in his illustrious career with the Indian team.
