Ashwin announces retirement from IPL, aims to play in overseas T20 leagues

Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday through a social media post on his ‘X’ account.

Ashwin added that he now aims to explore playing in overseas T20 leagues.

“Special day and hence a special beginning. They say every ending will have a new start, my time as an IPL cricketer comes to a close today, but my time as an explorer of the game around various leagues begins today,” wrote Ashwin on ‘X’.

“Would like to thank all the franchisees for all the wonderful memories and relationships over the years and most importantly the @IPL and the @BCCI for what they have given me until now. Look forward to enjoying and making the most of what’s ahead of me,” he added.

Ashwin ends his IPL career as the league’s fifth-highest wicket-taker with 187 scalps in 221 games coming at an economy rate of 7.2. He began and ended his IPL career with Chennai Super Kings, based in his home city.

In IPL 2025, where CSK had a bottom-place finish, Ashwin played nine games - picking only seven wickets at a high economy rate of 9.13 and was even left out of the starting eleven at one point due to his underwhelming returns.

Ashwin also played for now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, and captained Kings XI Punjab (now known as Punjab Kings) in the IPL. He also amassed 833 runs with the bat in the IPL at a strike rate of 118, including hitting a fifty.

The off-spinner was an integral member of CSK’s IPL title triumphs in 2010 and 2011. He had already retired from international cricket after the Brisbane Test against Australia in last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in December 2024.

Ashwin, who was initially slated to go into IPL 2026 mini auction, has been in conversations with various stakeholders on signing up to play in overseas T20 leagues.

With Ashwin now retiring from the IPL, he has the options to play in the BBL in Australia, the SA20 in South Africa, ILT20 in the UAE.

He can also feature in The Hundred in England and the CPL in the West Indies, both of which are currently underway. Previously, his former India and Tamil Nadu team-mate Dinesh Karthik retired from the IPL in June 2024 and played for Paarl Royals in third season of the SA20.

In 2019, playing for Punjab Kings, Ashwin created one of the IPL’s most talked-about moments when he ran out RR’s Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end.

Ashwin was about to bowl the penultimate ball of his spell and Buttler was at the non-striker’s end, backing up. The offspinner saw Buttler was out of his crease before he would normally have been expected to release the ball.

He turned around and calmly broke the stumps. The event sparked visibly heated exchanges between the two players, and prompted outrage, but it was, technically, within the laws of the game.

Days before announcing his retirement, Ashwin sparked a controversy when he claimed on his channel that CSK were willing to pay “extra” to sign Dewald Brevis as a mid-season replacement in 2025. His comments forced Chennai Super Kings into issuing official clarification that all signing protocols were abided by and that no IPL rules were broken.

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has described Ashwin’s retirement from the IPL as a ‘huge surprise’, calling the Indian off-spinner a ‘scientist of spin bowling’ who redefined the art of variations in T20 cricket.

Panesar, who himself was a prominent spinner for England during the 2000s, praised Ashwin’s evolution through the league. “He first made his mark in the IPL as a T20 bowler, excelling especially in the powerplay, and gradually developed into a fantastic all-round cricketer and bowler across all formats,” Panesar said.

The former left-arm spinner highlighted how Ashwin constantly pushed boundaries, turning challenges into opportunities. “He maximised his learning, constantly developed new variations, and consistently outsmarted batsmen. That’s why he earned the reputation of being a true scientist of spin,” Panesar added.

Agencies