By India Today Sports Desk:
Sunil Gavaskar has said that he was left baffled by India’s choice to depart R Ashwin out of the beginning eleven for the World Test Championship remaining towards Australia on the Oval.
India opted to bowl on Day 1 of the WTC 2023 remaining after profitable the toss and the choice didn’t yield the specified end result as Australia made 327 for 3 on the opening day, forcing Rohit Sharma and his males to be on the backfoot.
WTC 2023 Final, Day 1 highlights
Ashwin is third on the listing of the best wicket-takers in the course of the WTC 2021-23 cycle with 61 wickets to his title. The off-spinner can also be the No.1 ranked bowler within the ICC Test rankings. Ashwin had tormented Australia earlier within the yr in the course of the Border-Gavaskar trophy as he picked up 25 wickets and shared the Player Of The Series award with Ravindra Jadeja.
Following India’s robust day within the workplace on Day 1 of the WTC Final, many questions had been raised about India’s name to drop Ashwin for the match.
Gavaskar has now given his opinion on the matter and advised that India ought to have picked the off-spinner and the decision to depart him out of the facet baffled him.
“Well, first and foremost, they could have R Ashwin in the team (what India could have done differently on Day 1?). It really bafflesâæirrespective of what the conditions are, the No. 1 bowler in the ICC rankings is not able to find a place in the Indian playing XI. That is something that has baffled me all the time whenever it’s Ashwin. Even the last time when India were here (in England), they were just not picking him,” mentioned Gavaskar.
Gavaskar mentioned that Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur had been undercooked coming into the competition as a result of their restricted bowling time within the recently-concluded IPL. Umesh bowled 14 overs and was wicketless whereas conceding 54 runs. Shardul picked up one wicket in his 18 overs whereas conceding 75 runs.
“Sometimes, you get a little carried away. If you have 4 quality seam bowlers, it’s a different thing. Top-quality seam bowlers.”
“Two of our seam bowlers were undercooked. One is Umesh Yadav, who did not play in the last few matches for KKR and Shardul Thakur. Both of them who hadn’t bowled a lot. On the other hand, you had two bowlers who played every single game for their franchises. They might have been little overcooked despite it being a 4-over spell,” mentioned Gavaskar.
Gavaskar additionally mentioned that with so many left-handers within the Australian batting lineup, India missed a trick by not having Ashwin within the beginning eleven for the match.
“With so many left-handers in the Australian XI, an off-spinner should have been there. I think that’s where India missed a trick,” mentioned Gavaskar.
