India's captain Rohit Sharma had a little slip of the tongue during the post-match conference on Tuesday, right after Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket, which caught the reporters off guard. This big news came right after the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series ended in a draw, keeping the series tied at 1-1.

After Ashwin said his goodbyes to the game, wrapping up his remarkable career—especially in Test cricket, where he stands as India's second-highest wicket-taker and seventh overall—Rohit was asked by a reporter how it felt to be without senior players like Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ashwin on the national team.

Rohit mentioned that he still keeps in touch with Rahane, who is also from Bombay, but he doesn’t see Pujara much. He expressed hope that he would stay connected with Ashwin, joking that the seasoned bowler might end up in broadcasting as an expert in a few years.

We’re always going to be friends. Sure, we won’t catch up on the tour, but we’ll definitely hang out. Ajinkya is in Bombay, so we see each other pretty often. Pujara is kind of MIA in Rajkot, so we don’t meet up as much. But Ashwin might join you in a few years, so we’ll keep running into him, he mentioned.

Then, halfway through, he realized what he said and quickly corrected himself for the media, making it clear that Rahane and Pujara haven’t retired yet. He playfully pointed out that his comment could land him in hot water with the press during a crucial series.

“Just to be clear, Rahane hasn’t retired. You’d get me in trouble! Pujara hasn’t either. I just mentioned them together because of your question. Right now, none of them are in the Indian team, but Ashwin has officially retired. Still, you never know—Rahane and Pujara could make a comeback, and the door’s always open for them,” he added.

Ashwin hangs up his boots from international cricket.

Ashwin has decided to retire from international cricket right after the last session of the third Test match on Day 5 was rained out, leading to a draw. At 38 years old, he wraps up his career with an impressive 537 wickets in 106 Tests, boasting an average of 24.00, which places him seventh on the all-time list and second for India, just behind Anil Kumble's 619. He also has 116 one-day and 65 Twenty20 internationals under his belt.

"This is my final day as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level," he shared during the post-match press conference.

"I believe there's still some fire left in me as a cricketer, but I want to channel that into club-level cricket."

In this series, Ashwin played just one Test, where he ended up with figures of 1/53 in the pink ball Test in Adelaide.

Read Also: Ashwin's family advised him to take his time, and he won't decide until he boards the flight to Perth. What led to the unexpected retirement?

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