The story of Ravichandran Ashwin, an Indian cricketer, off spinner-cum-batsman, and top class cricket brain, retired halfway through a tour of Australia is well-known now. It has led to two different reactions.

One is of irritation because he left so suddenly. The other is sympathy for his frustration that he was being treated as a passenger in the team. After all he has taken 537 wickets and scored half a dozen Test centuries.

This episode forces us to ask if this would have happened if he had been told in advance, say at the start of the 2024 season, that this would be his last season for India. That’s what the Australian Board does, regardless of how great a player you are. And it’s announced to the public that this is that player’s last season.

Indeed, that’s what even the Indian government does. You know on the date you join it when you will retire.

Not cricketers, however. This doesn’t mean the choice is entirely theirs. It’s actually the selectors who decide when a sportsperson will be omitted for good.

The player is never told it’s over. He or she is simply left out of the side and sits in forlorn hope that he or she will be selected once again.

Sometimes the selection is for a match, or a last series. This is what has happened to Ashwin now and nearly everyone else over the years. One fine day you are history.

This is a very unprofessional way of doing things. Quite apart from keeping players on short leashes, it increases the scope for discretionary choices. Cricket is too big now for this. A rule based system that’s predictable is always better.

The BCCI therefore needs to work out a retirement policy that lets a player know a full season in advance. It would then be up to the player to decide whether he or she wants to continue or retire immediately. Certainty should always be the preferred option.