Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were unarguably the two biggest heroes for India in the 2-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph. The two finished as the top wicket-takers, with Ashwin claiming 25 scalps and Jadeja 22. The series win enabled India's progression to the ICC World Test Championship final which will also be played against Australia in June. Though Ashwin and Jadeja were central to India's success in the 4-match series, both of them might not get to feature in the WTC final as it will be played at the Oval in London.
Speaking of India's possible team composition in the World Test Championship final, Dinesh Karthik is all but sure that Axar Patel won't be a part of the playing XI, despite his all-round ability. Karthik even feels that skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid shouldn't shy away from leaving one of Jadeja and Ashwin out from the playing XI in the final.
"To be brutally honest if everybody is fit, especially if Ashwin and Jadeja are fit, you will have to say that Axar will miss out. I think Shardul will take his place," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
"Absolutely (India might play either Ashwin or Jadeja). To be honest, that's where the Indian team made a mistake last time playing both spinners and they didn't bowl them much. It's a one-off game. You can't look at it in the bigger scheme of things. It's a year-end match for a lot of the players in many ways as after that there will be a fresh cycle. So you have to go into the match thinking 'what is my best XI to win that game?' If that means leaving Ashwin or Jadeja out, so be it. We've always seen Jadeja get the nod ahead because he can bat better," Karthik asserted.
When it comes to overseas assignments, seeing both Ashwin and Jadeja in India's playing XI is a rarity.