Prithi Narayanan's emotional tribute: A fangirl love letter to husband Ravichandran Ashwin's cricket legacy

Ravichandran Ashwin's wife Prithi Narayanan penned down a heartfelt note after the legendary off-spinner bid farewell to international cricket following the third Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) in Brisbane.

Prithi said that the last couple of days were a bit "blurry" for her as he was trying to come to terms with her husband's sudden retirement. She spoke about her experiences, watching Ashwin making preparations for matches and seeing how he dealt with wins and losses.

"It has been a blurry two days for me. I have been thinking about what I can say.. Do I put this down as a tribute to my all-time favourite cricketer? Maybe I'll just take the partner angle? Or maybe a love letter from a fan girl? I guess this is a little bit of all of it. When I saw Ashwins PC, I thought of small and big moments. Many many memories over the last 13-14 years," Prithi wrote on her Instagram feed.

"The big wins, the MOS awards, the quiet silence in our room after an intense game, the sound of the shower running for much longer than usual on some evenings post play , the scratch of pencil over paper as he scribbled thoughts down, the constant streaming of footage videos when he is making a game plan, the calm of meditative breathing before leaving for each game, certain songs playing on repeat while he unwinds.. The times we weeped in joy - after the CT final, after the MCG win, after the Sydney draw, The Gabba win, after making a comeback in T20s…the times we sat in silence and the times when we had our hearts broken," she added.

Prithi admitted that she didn't know how to put a kit bag together at one stage but slowly, she got introduced to the different facets of the sport from close quarters. She also recalled how Ashwin always tried to improve his craft to stay relevant in the sport. In the end, she advised the 38-year-old to live life on his own terms after putting the curtains down on his illustrious international career.

"Dear Ashwin, from not knowing how to put a kit bag together to following you to stadiums all over the world, rooting for you, watching you and learning from you, it has been an absolute pleasure. The world you introduced me to gave me the privilege to watch and enjoy a sport that I love from close quarters. It also showed me how much passion, hardwork and discipline is needed to keep your head above water. And sometimes even that is not enough," Prithi noted.

Also Read: ‘I wouldn't have let him go like that’ - Kapil Dev unhappy with R Ashwin's farewell

"I remember us talking about why you, R Ashwin, had to do all of this and a lot more to even stay relevant in the scheme of things. How awards, the best of stats, the POMs, the accolades, the records didn't matter if you didn't sharpen your skill sets constantly and did not put in the work. Sometimes, nothing is enough. As you end your wonderful international run, I only want to tell you that it's all good," she further continued.

"It is all going to be good.It is time to set the burden of being you down. Live life on your terms, make space for those extra calories, make time for your family, make time to do absolutely nothing, share memes all day, create a new bowling variation, bug our kids out of their minds. Just do it all," Prithi concluded her post.

Check out Prithi Ashwin's heartwarming love letter for Ashwin here:

Ashwin took over 500 wickets for India in Tests

Speaking of the illustrious career of Ravichandran Ashwin, the willy off-spin stalwart finished his international career with the honour of playing 106 Tests, 116 ODI, and 65 T20Is for India. He bagged 537, 156, and 72 wickets in the three formats, respectively. The stalwart will continue playing in the domestic arena as he is set to represent Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.