At 37, R Ashwin is playing his 100th Test, against England at Dharamshala, and still getting wickets. But despite his achievements, performance in the current series, and his overall stellar record, one still needs to ask, till when can he continue?
While the best person to answer that is Ashwin himself, but his childhood coach Sunil Subramaniam maintained that he still has three to four years as a player, left in him.
“As a player, definitely about three to four years for sure at the international level, and the call will be his after that,” Subramaniam told PTI.
“He debuted at the age of 25, how long will he be able to play? Because many people in India play cricket, how much competition will he have. If you look at the bowling attack of India in the last five to 10 years, it has become really potent. How long his journey will be? At every stage, he has evolved. And his bowling for the last nine years has been the fulcrum for India.”
Ashwin, who has 511 wickets in 100 Tests, has a stellar record in every format, and his coach believes, his playing career can extend till 40. “There can be many roles in sports if you are talking about the role of a player, today’s fitness standards are such that he can play till he is 40 at the international level, because his quality of bowling is good.
“It will be his call, what role he wants to play, how many years he wants to play, that call he will take on his own.”
