Finch playfully teases R Ashwin with ‘Mankad’ reminder in farewell message: ‘Thanks for sparing me’

Former Australia captain Aaron Finch bid a cheeky farewell to spin great Ravichandran Ashwin following his retirement from international cricket. The two had shared the dressing room at Punjab Kings in 2018, and Finch's message highlighted their strong camaraderie during their time together.

However, Finch chose to recall a memory from an IPL match in which he was up against Ashwin, and the latter gave him a 'Mankad' warning. It was the 2020 edition, and Finch was representing Royal Challengers Bengaluru while Ashwin was donning the Delhi Capitals colours. Ashwin caught Finch out of the crease at the non-striker end and gave him a non-striker run-out warning; however, the Indian spinner only alerted him and didn't dislodge the bail.

Finch congratulated the veteran Indian spinner for his glorious career.

“One of the all time careers. Congratulations R Ashwin. It was a pleasure to play with and against you," he wrote on his Instagram story.

The former Aussie skipper posted a photo from the 2020 IPL match and thanked Ashwin for not running him out at non-striker's end in that game.

"PS: Thanks for not running me out this day!” he added.

Finch also recalled a battle from a Test match and wrote, “And I might have given you a free hit here.”

Meanwhile, Ashwin will continue to play domestic and club cricket as he will represent Chennai Super Kings in next season of IPL. The five-time champions signed him for a whopping INR 9.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction.

Ashwin finished his glorious Test career with 537 wickets, including 37 five-wicket hauls, and scored 3,503 runs with the bat.

The veteran spinner announced his big decision to retire from international cricket in the press conference after theBrisbane Test.

"This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats of the game at the international level. I do feel there is a bit of punch left in me in as a cricketer. I would like to showcase that in club-level cricket. So this will be my last day. I have had a lot of fun. I must say I've created a lot of memories alongside Rohit and several of my teammates," Ashwin said in the post-match presentation ceremony.