'He moved to few other teams but never felt settled at those teams.'
South Africa's batting great A B de Villiers hailed spin legend Ravichandran Ashwin's 'stellar IPL career' after the spinner announced his retirement from the T20 league but believes he should have stayed at Chennai Super Kings, where he started his career in 2009.
Ashwin played seven straight seasons for CSK before the franchise was banned for a couple of years and signed up for Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 2016. He then played a couple of seasons each for Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals before moving to Rajasthan Royals for three seasons.
He returned to CSK after a decade when he was signed on at the IPL 2025 auction for Rs 9.75 crore (Rs 97.5 millio). However, he struggled with the ball last season, managing just seven wickets from nine matches.
Overall, he picked up 187 wickets in 221 matches in his IPL career.
De Villiers said Ashwin should have never left CSK in the past as he could not settle down with the other IPL teams he played for.
'Ashwin called retirement on a fantastic career, a stellar career. It has got to be said, what a wonderful player, what a scientist of the game, a doctor, professor of the game. He always took it to the limits with the rules book but generally got it right, even though he was frowned upon some times. I have a lot of respect for guys who study the game, and he was one of those players,' De Villiers said in an interaction with fans on a 360 Live session on X.
'Incredible skills. A huge player and an icon in India. He won so many games for Team India and for CSK over the years. He also moved to few other teams but never felt settled at those teams. In my opinion, he should have always just stayed at CSK. It was not up to him obviously, as there are a lot of things like retention, team selection, what a team is trying to do with the selection in that season,' the South African added.
'But I will always remember him as a yellow jersey guy, won a lot of games for them as well, very under-rated with the bat in hand.'
Ashwin's IPL retirement came amid speculation over his future at CSK. The nine matches he played last season marked his second lowest in a season since he featured in just two games in his debut in 2009.
The veteran off-spinner admitted he had sought clarity from CSK on his role.
'Last year, I played only nine games; in all my years of playing in the IPL, that was the first year I played just nine games. I always used to play every game... so it was my first experience like that.'
'I asked for clarity from my side, but I asked for it during the IPL season itself,' Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
The spin great hinted he is open to playing in other T20 leagues around the world.
'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.'