Brisbane, Australia

India skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that off spinner Ravi Ashwin understood the thinking of the team which prompted him to announce his retirement from internationals. Ashwin bid adieu to international cricket after the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test ended in a draw on Wednesday (Dec 18).

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"He understands what the team is thinking. He understands what kind of combinations we are thinking of. When we came here as well, we were not sure about which spinner was going to play. We just wanted to assess and see what kind of conditions we get in front of us, But yeah, when I arrived in Perth, this was a chat we had, and I somehow convinced him to stay for that pink ball Test," Rohit said at the post match press conference.

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"It just happened so that if you know where he felt that, 'if I'm not needed right now in the series, I'm better off. Saying goodbye to the game, but obviously, we've not been to Melbourne yet, so we don't know what sort of conditions we expect there and what sort of combination, but just keeping Ash in particularly in mind, giving him that respect that this if this is what he thinks, we should allow him to think that way and we should all stand by," he added.

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Ashwin retired as India second highest wicket-taker in international cricket. The offie took 765 in Tests (537), ODIs (157) and T20Is (72) combined, second only to Anil Kumble's 953.

In Tests also, Ashwin is the second highest wicket-taker for India behind Kumble's 619. His 37 Test five-for are joint second most in the history along with Shane Warne and behind only Muthiah Muralidaran's 67.

In the ongoing BGT, Ashwin played in the second Test in Adelaide under the lights and returned with figures of 1/53 in India's 10-wicket loss.