"Would Have Always Kept Ashwin...": Ex-India Star On All-Rounder's Exclusion From WTC Final's XI

Team India was thrashed by Australia in the World Test Championship, earlier this month. Playing at the Oval, the Rohit Sharma-led side faced a 209-run defeat and their hopes of winning an ICC trophy were brutally crushed. Team India's failure at another major ICC event gave rise to a lot of criticism, as many fans and experts raised questions about the side's Playing XI. The team management went with Ravindra Jadeja as their only spinner in the match, which led to the exclusion of the ace all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.

This omission did not go well with many fans and former India women's skipper Anjum Chopra also questioned the team's decision of leaving out the veteran spinner. Notably, Ashwin gave a top-class performance in the Border-Gavaskar trophy, earlier this year. 

"Absolutely! I definitely felt that. In fact, my playing XI did have (Ravichandran) Ashwin there. I'm not saying that you can't play four pacers, it's nothing of that sort, but I always felt that irrespective of the conditions, had India lost the toss and we were asked to bat, we would have struggled to think, 'Oh! Now what do we do?' I'm pretty sure that the team management thought through the decision," Anjum told News18.

"As a player, I would have always kept Ashwin in that line-up, just because, I think he is a quality bowler and irrespective of the conditions, he can deliver the goods. And he's absolutely in isolation, just looking at his skill level and the records the Indian team has had with him in the playing XI," she added.

Ashwin emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the BGT 2023 with a total of 25 scalps in four matches. It also included two five-wicket hauls. He also bagged away the joint Player of the Series award with Ravindra Jadeja. 

Recently in an interview, Ashwin also spoke about his skills and how he approaches the exclusion.

"It's a hard question to answer, right? Because we are standing right after the WTC Final. I would have loved to play because I have played a part in us getting there. Even in the last final I got four wickets and bowled really well. Ever since 2018-19, my bowling overseas has been fantastic and I have managed to win games for the team,"  he told the Indian Express.

"I am looking at it as a captain or coach and I'm just talking in hindsight, in their defence. So the last time when we were in England, it was 2-2 with a drawn Test and they would have felt 4 pacers and 1 spinner is the combination in England. That is what they might have thought going into the final," Ashwin added.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Ravichandran Ashwin Ravindra Jadeja Anjum Chopra Cricket