A fraction of his IQ!

Retire when people ask why rather than why not. This was the reply that ’s greatest technician, Vijay Merchant, had given when he was asked why he had quit the game despite scoring 154 in the just concluded Delhi Test match of the 1951-52 series. That retirement too, was in the middle of a series against the MCC, as the then England team was called when overseas, was touring India.

Announcing plans to retire at the end of the series is probably the best way to go from the game. That privilege can only be had by the undroppables, who, even if they are going through a horror series, cannot be left out of the eleven for reasons that are not always cricketing. Ash is one of the greatest Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired earlier this week after the third Test in Brisbane, had become droppable over the last few overseas tours to the SENA countries.



This time, though, it was probably the last straw that broke the resolve of one of the greatest cricketers in not just Indian cricket history, but the world game. Ashwin was one of the brainiest cricketers the game has seen and his trying to analyse the game especially his bowling methods to different batters in different conditions could and did throw off some who want to keep the game simple. By all accounts, his outspokenness in team meetings whenever strategy and tactics were discussed and which differed from what the team management wanted didn’t always make him Mr.

Popular. That’s why all the nicknames like Rocket Scientist, Professor, were bestowed snidely on him by anonymous teammates who didn’t even have a fraction of his IQ. Cricket being a batters game, the fact that he invariably won the Player of the Series award didn’t win him kudos among the batter’s fraternity.

Every time there was even a five per cent excuse to leave him out of the eleven, it was grabbed avidly with the excuse of team balance. At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew that without him they could not win the game. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC number one ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters even if they were not top ranked by ICC, but who struggled in similar pitches and conditions in the SENA countries? Ashwin would have made a fine captain for , but he was denied even the honour of being the vice-captain.

There was an opportunity to give him the belated honour even if it was for a token Test match and a limited overs bilateral series, but that also was denied to him. That’s why it was so good to see Rohit Sharma ask him to lead the team out on his 100th Test match. Winning matches with craft To Ashwin of course it matters little for all he was interested in was luring the batters slowly, but surely to their doom.

When required he would bat like a top-order batter and make strokemaking look ridiculously easy. Like the one and only Kapil Dev, Ashwin too was only interested in winning matches for India with his crafty bowling despite having great ability with the bat. Scoring the runs he left to the other mortals who often let him down and for whose failures he paid for with his place in the team.

Ashwin is done with playing for India, but Indian cricket will never have enough of Ravichandran Ashwin..