R. Ashwin, a veteran offspinner from India has confirmed his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) which ends a great 16 years journey in the tournament. Ashwin posted on X on Wednesday and said, “My time as an explorer of the game around various leagues begins today.”
Ashwin leaves the IPL as the fifth highest wicket-taker in the league, taking 187 wickets at an economy rate of 7.2. He started his IPL career with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2009 and won titles with CSK in 2010 and 2011. During his IPL stint, he also played for the Rising Pune Supergiant, Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) where he also captained, and the Rajasthan Royals. In a nice full circle, Ashwin returned to CSK for IPL 2025 after 8 seasons away from the team.
The reality is that Ashwin’s last IPL season was not his best. Ashwin was bought for INR 9.75 crore at the 2024 mega auction and played nine matches in 2025, the fewest he has played since the first season. Ashwin’s economy rate was 9.12 runs per over, his all-time worst in the IPL.
Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket in December 2024, while India was touring Australia. He leaves the game as India’s second highest Test wicket taker, and one of the most effective spin bowlers in every format of the game.
With the BCCI prohibiting active domestic players to play in overseas leagues, Ashwin also now leaves the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) behind; now he can explore options with leagues such as Australia’s BBL, SA20 in South Africa, ILT20 in the UAE, The Hundred in England, and CPL in the Caribbean.
Ashwin was always evolving as a player, he remained one of the rare ‘traditional’ finger spinners and was ever vicious the IPL era. He made useful contributions with the bat, becoming more adept at power-hitting during his time in the IPL and TNPL (he once even opened the batting). He also torched the record books, being the first player in the IPL to be “retired out” and the first to run a non-striker out without delivering the ball.
As Ashwin embarks on what is next, he is leaving the IPL with a collection of useful innovation, grit and incredible cricketing intelligence.
