If one has to analyse Ashwin the cricketer, it is very difficult to ignore Ashwin, the person, who had a very independent mind and a brain that probably ticked 24x7. He believed in de-construction of his art and became craftier one ball at a time.
Batters around the world heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday as Ravichandran Ashwin brought down the curtain on an international career that saw the India spinner take more than 500 Test wickets with an arsenal that included the dreaded 'carrom ball'.
The 38-year-old was not selected for the opening Test against Australia in Perth but returned to the side for the day-night second match in Adelaide, where he took one wicket.
That would prove to be his final Test after Ashwin was again left out in Brisbane where India snatched a draw in a rain-blighted contest.
Ashwin's 537 wickets from 106 Tests is the second highest by an Indian bowler behind Anil Kumble's 619. He also played 116 one-dayers and 65 Twenty20 Internationals, finishing with 765 wickets across formats.
Since making his India debut in an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2010, Ashwin went on to fill the void created by the retirement of Kumble.
A cerebral spinner with a fast bowler's aggression, Ashwin grew to become a match-winner on India's turning tracks, where his impeccable control and ability to bowl long spells made him a huge asset.
Obsessed with the small details of his craft, the off-spinner constantly tinkered with his technique in his relentless quest for perfection.
Ashwin bowled leg spin in domestic cricket to expand his repertoire and mastered the 'carrom ball', in which he flicked the ball with knuckle.
He is also an unabashed advocate of 'Mankading', famously running out Jos Buttler after the Englishman had strayed out of the crease at the non-striker's end during an Indian Premier League match.
The Indian was a big influence on his peers, with Australian spinner Nathan Lyon calling him one of his "biggest coaches' in the run-up to the ongoing series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Ashwin, who will return home on Thursday, also evolved into a decent Test all-rounder, hitting six hundreds in the format.
He sparred with his insecurities as a child for far too long and perhaps didn't want to be dragged into a rigmarole of insecurities once again.
It is for this reason that an abrupt retirement from international cricket would not seem out of the blue for anyone who has followed the man's journey. It could have happened in Sydney after the fifth Test against Australia but he didn't want to hang around.
No one had to tell him that it was time to walk away from the game that consumed nearly three decades of his 38-year-old existence. Ashwin, the straight-shooter, did a cameo presser to let the world know in John Denver style "My bags are packed and I am ready go".
He wore many hats as an active international cricketer and just a five-minute conversation with him would be enough to pick up if anyone talking baloney.
Stereotyping Ashwin even after 14 years at the top level is a task. The 765 international wickets are not a good enough data to decode the veteran, who, in his biography has admitted to being an insecure kid. He gradually won that battle with cricket playing a major role in shaping him into an assured person.
"I would rather fail in life than be absolutely safe. That's my character. I don't have the common insecurities that people have," Ashwin had recently told PTI when the first part of his autobiography "I Have The Streets" released a few months back.
"If you go to the Casino, thinking of how much money you will make, you will pretty much end up without a rupee. But when you go with the intention of having fun and wanting to lose the money that you have, you always go back a much richer person. It was actually a big learning experience," he had said.
So when he told his teammates about his decision, he didn't care whether his 106 Test matches could become 107 or for that matter 108. It didn't matter anymore.
If one has to analyse Ashwin the cricketer, it is very difficult to ignore Ashwin, the person, who had a very independent mind and a brain that probably ticked 24x7. He believed in de-construction of his art and became craftier one ball at a time.
He never believed that an off-spinner can only bowl doosras (the wrong 'un) with a legal action. But he developed his own wrong 'un, patented it as "carrom ball", which could be bowled with a flick of middle finger and thumb that beat the outside edge of a right hander.
The ball became Ashwin's calling card throughout his career but he had the guts to tell the world that he had learnt it by first watching Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis during a junior camp in Chennai.
From 2011 till the series against England, he was lethal at home.
Critics can talk endlessly about the nature of Indian strips during the past 13 years but no one can deny Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were a force of nature in those conditions.
One can be provided with advantageous conditions but the player also needs to know how to capitalise. The 383 wickets on Indian soil and 433 out of his 537 Test scalps in Asia is a testimony to his mastery of these conditions.
He has had some great spells in England and Australia but at times statistics conceal more than they reveal. No one can gauge how much pain he endured due to a lower abdominal injury during the 2018 Southampton Test against England which India lost.
Ashwin's biggest overseas Test achievement would certainly be batting for more than 40 overs with an equally hamstrung Hanuma Vihari as the two saved a Test match in Sydney in 2021.
If 'Gabba' was India's Sholay, Sydney certainly was 'Ankur'.
That day, Ashwin played through the pain to save a game that felt like a victory.
He is a man of strong values. In his junior cricket days, it was his father Ravichandran, who, from the sidelines, asked him to run the non-striker out when he saw him gaining unfair ground. That started his tryst with with run outs at the non-strikers' end.
He believed in rules and played by them.
'Spirit of Cricket' in garb of cheating was unacceptable to him.
He could stand for a colleague, like he did for Mohammed Siraj, who was hurled with choicest abuses in Australia.
But he always knew that cricket is a part of life not heart of life.
The engineer from Chennai's Ramkrishnapuram First Street never hesitated in leaving a COVID bio-bubble when family members fell sick, quit a Test match when his mother Chithra survived a heart scare.
One former agent who worked with Ashwin during his earlier days had once said: "There are people who pitch ideas and deals. And there are people who close the deal. Ashwin is the second one," he had said.
He always had a plan B, be it buying a cricket team in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association league or a squad in the Global Chess League.
His Tamil YouTube channel with 'Kutty Stories' and interviews has a huge Pan India following. His refreshing takes on cricket's myriad issues, players and laws are a huge hit with the fans.
"I had realised that I don't need an intermediary (media) to connect with people who might have a created perception about me," he had said once.
Ravichandran Ashwin, the cricketer will always be one of a kind. A sequel to 'I Have The Streets' would be as fascinating.
