After how many years are India playing a home test without Ravichandran Ashwin in playing XI?

Ravichandran Ashwin retired from international cricket in December 2024.

The Indian Cricket Team are crossing swords with the West Indies Cricket Team in first match of the two-match series. The series opener between the teams got underway at the Narendra Modi International Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad on 2nd October.

The Indian side that is playing against the West Indies is a completely different side from what it was in the last home series. The transition pedal in the Indian test team has been pressed and the youngsters have taken over the charge completely.

This is because the seniors in Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma called time on their careers in tests recently. Shubman Gill is now at the helm of things of test team and he had a fantastic outing in his first assignment with the team drawing the series 2-2 in England. 

The ongoing test series against the West Indies is the first time in a while that India are playing without three of their legends at home. While, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli missed odd games due to injuries and personal reasons, it was Ashwin, who was the main man at home. 

After how many years are India playing a home test without Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing XI?

The ongoing first test against the West Indies is the first in 15 years that India are playing without Ashwin at home. The last time India played a test without him at home was against New Zealand in 2010 in Nagpur. Notably, since his test debut in November 2011, he played all 65 tests India played at home till last year’s home test series against the Kiwis.

Ashwin was one of the major reasons behind the dominance of the Indian team at home. Till the last test series at home against New Zealand, India didn’t lose a single series at home after losing to England in 2012. And the biggest reason behind that was Ashwin.

In-home tests, Ashwin was nothing more than exceptional. He played 65 tests at home and picked 383 wickets at an average of 21.57. He also picked 29 fifers to go with the best of 7/59. He was no mug with a bat as well. The Indian legend slammed 1989 runs to go with four tons.

His absence will be a big miss for India as his ability to run through the batting lineups and change the game in one session was unique. It remains to be seen how young spinners take the charge in his absence. 

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