Ravichandran Ashwin's dad dropped a bombshell on Thursday, saying he was totally blindsided by his son's unexpected retirement from international cricket. In response, Ashwin took to his official X account to clear things up. His retirement announcement came right after the drawn third Test against Australia in Brisbane, leaving fans and analysts in shock.

Ashwin's father described his surprise as ‘humiliation,’ stating, “I found out at the last minute. The way he announced it could have many reasons. Only Ashwin knows, maybe humiliation.” This sparked a lot of chatter on social media, but Ashwin insisted there's not much to unpack here.

“My dad isn’t media trained, you know how it is. I never thought you’d jump on the classic “dad statements” bandwagon. Please forgive him and let him be,” Ashwin wrote, putting an end to the rumors.

Washington Sundar got the nod over the experienced off-spinner, who has 537 Test wickets to his name, for the first Test in Perth during the ongoing tour of Australia. He also made it into the lineup for the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide.

But Ashwin found himself on the sidelines again for the third Test at the Gabba, with Ravindra Jadeja taking his place in the starting eleven.

Ashwin's dad mentioned that the family had been anticipating his retirement for a while, citing that “humiliation was going on,” though he didn’t go into specifics about what that meant.

The unexpected news of his retirement really caught us off guard. We kind of saw it coming since he had been dealing with so much humiliation.

“How much longer could he put up with all that? He probably made the choice himself,” he mentioned.

Still a work in progress as a cricketer.

Ashwin made it clear that he’s not stepping away from club cricket, including the Indian Premier League, where he’s set to make a comeback with the Chennai Super Kings next year. After arriving in India on Thursday, the spinner expressed that he’s “not done” with his cricketing journey.

“I still have that fire inside me. I’m definitely playing for CSK, and don’t be shocked if I aim to keep playing for as long as possible. I don’t believe Ashwin the cricketer is finished; it’s just Ashwin the Indian cricketer who has decided to take a break. That’s all,” he emphasized.

Read Also: Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir criticized the decision to let Ashwin retire during the series, stating that Virat Kohli would never have allowed it.

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