India spin legend Ravichandran Ashwin retires from international cricket

The 38-year-old made the announcement after the third Test against Australia in Brisbane which ended in a draw leaving the series level at 1-1 with two matches remaining.

Ashwin claimed 537 wickets in 106 Tests, 156 ODI scalps in 116 games and 72 wickets in 65 T20I appearances for India and his number of Test five-wicket hauls (37) is only eclipsed by Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (67).

The Chennai-born player, who also scored 3 503 Test runs with six hundreds and 14 half-centuries, revealed he would continue to play at the lower level.

He said: "I feel there's a little bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I'd like to express that, showcase that in club-level cricket.

"I have made a lot of memories alongside Rohit (Sharma) and several of my team-mates, even though we've lost some of them [to retirements] over the last few years.

"We're the last bunch of OGs, we can say that. I will be marking this as my date of having played at this level.

"Obviously there are a lot of people to thank, but I will be failing in my duties if I didn't thank the BCCI and fellow team-mates.

"Most importantly, Rohit, Virat (Kohli), Ajinkya (Rahane), (Cheteshwar) Pujara, who have taken some of the catches around the bat and given me the number of wickets I've managed to get over the years."

India Test captain Rohit said of Ashwin: "It just happened that if he felt he was not needed right now in the series, he was better off saying goodbye to the game.

"Some decisions are very personal and I don't think too many questions should be asked or raised. If a player has [made] a choice, he has to be given that choice.

"He was very sure about what he wanted to do and the team has complete backing of his thought process.

"It's important a player like him, who has had so many moments with the Indian team and been a truly a big match-winner for us, is allowed to make those decisions on his own."

READ MORE: AB de Villiers: SA20 great platform to afford exposure to youngsters