India’s former all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin admitted that having to sit out a lot on foreign tours played a big role in the decision to call time on his Test career. Ashwin played only one Test match on the 2024-25 tour of Australia and decided to hang up his boots during the Border-Gavaskar series.

The legendary spinner added that he also wanted to spend time with his family and wanted to retire at 34 or 35. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja was preferred ahead of Ashwin on overseas tours as the first-choice spinner in the playing XI.

While talking to former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid, Ashwin opened up on his decision to retire midway through the tour.

Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “I was pretty old, I must admit. But going on tours and having to just sit out a lot more, eventually got to me. I mean, not in terms of not wanting to contribute to the team, but you’re thinking if I would rather be at home, spending time with children. They are also growing up, and what am I actually doing?

“So I just felt like okay… In my head, I always decided that I would retire at 34-35. But just the fact that I could not play a lot in between…” the former India off-spinner went on to add.

Ashwin announced his retirement in a press conference after he was benched for the Gabba Test match against Australia. The off-spinner finished his Test career with 537 scalps, second-highest for India after Anil Kumble (619) and seventh-highest overall, in 106 Test matches.

The all-rounder also amassed 3503 runs in the red-ball version, including six Test centuries. Ashwin bagged 156 ODI wickets in 116 matches, whereas he snared 72 wickets in 65 T20I matches.

Ashwin will continue to play in the IPL, but it has been reported that he could part ways with the Chennai Super Kings.