16 years, 5 storms: R Ashwin's most talked moments in IPL history

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's IPL career was full of drama. Here are the top five controversies that defined his 16 years in the tournament.

The IPL stage has lost one of its great thinkers. Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s wily off-spinner and eternal cricketing contrarian, announced on Wednesday that he is retiring from the Indian Premier League. With that, a remarkable 16-year chapter — filled with triumphs, innovations, and controversies that shook the cricketing world — finally draws to a close.

 

At 38, months after retiring from international cricket, the off-spinner hinted at a second innings away from India’s most glamorous league but with the same hunger for the game. But before he heads for another cricket assignment around the globe, check out top five controversies in which Ashwin was involved in his 16 year of career in Indian Premier League. 

 

The controversies that made him unforgettable

 

If genius defined him, so did drama. Ashwin’s IPL career is studded with moments that made headlines and split opinions:

 

• Mankading Jos Buttler (2019): A moment that sparked global uproar and redefined cricket’s “spirit.”
• Clash with Morgan and Southee (2021): A heated face-off that revealed his refusal to back down.
• Tactical Retire Out (2022): A first in IPL history, sparking fresh debates on strategy vs. sportsmanship.
• Brevis Contract Storm (2025): A YouTube comment that unsettled his own CSK camp.
• Bench Talk (2025): Public criticism of CSK’s team selections, fuelling whispers of rifts and eventual silence on the franchise from his channel.

From yellow to yellow — a full circle

 

Ashwin’s IPL story began in 2009 with Chennai Super Kings. Sixteen years later, it ended the same way — in CSK’s famous yellow, which he rejoined in 2025 for ₹9.75 crore after more than a decade. Between those bookends, Ashwin became an IPL nomad — playing for Rising Pune Supergiant, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, and Rajasthan Royals — but his greatest glories came with CSK, where he lifted the trophy in 2010 and 2011.

 

The numbers — and the mind behind them

 

220 matches

187 wickets at 30.22 (best 4/34)

833 runs, including one fifty

 

But Ashwin was never about raw numbers alone. He was a tactician, a bowler who treated T20 cricket not just as a slugfest but as a chessboard — often three moves ahead of his opponents.

 

Every season, Ashwin ensured one thing: he could never be ignored.

 

Beyond IPL: A Test titan

 

In Tests, he is second only to Anil Kumble with 537 wickets, a giant of India’s red-ball legacy. The IPL, though, gave him a different canvas — one where he pushed boundaries, rewrote tactics, and wasn’t afraid of being the game’s most polarising figure.

 

The final curtain — and the promise of more

 

Ashwin’s farewell is more than just another retirement. It is the end of an IPL era where he stood as a strategist, disruptor, and innovator. From deceiving the best batters to standing firm in controversies, he made the IPL richer, fiercer, and infinitely more fascinating.

 

The curtain may have fallen on his IPL career. But if Ashwin’s own words are anything to go by, the next act of his cricketing journey has already begun.