The Onset of the ICC WTC (World Test Championship) Finals has triggered numerous discussions regarding India’s bowling line-up. As they decided to go with four seamers and one spinner. They only took Ravindra Jadeja as their key spinner and dropped Ravichandran Ashwin, which has sparked a lot of debate and discussion, despite Ravichandran Ashwin being a no.1 Test Bowler, he was chosen to be dropped by the Indian management.
Paras Mhambrey, India’s bowling coach, talked about why they decided to go ahead with one additional seamer rather than a spinner. He claimed that the conditions of the pitch were supporting the pacers, thus they have to take the tough call of dropping Ashwin from the playing XI.
“You Can Always Look At The Hindsight And Say That We Could Have Played An Extra Spinner..” – Paras Mhambrey
Paras Mhambrey the bowling coach of India, spoke about how things feel different in hindsight while backing the team management’s call to play four pacers. He stated while talking to the Press:
“When team discussion is there, we keep talking about the combination, not only on the day before the Test but over a few days because we know the conditions here. We have seen the wicket and had discussion with the players, we have our strategies, the player is important, but we also have to look at our combination. We discussed getting the right combination.” Mhambrey said.
“yes, he is a world-class bowler. No doubt about it. But the player also understands that if we take a decision, its for the sake of the team. Our conversation are honest and the players also understand why such a decision was taken,” he added.
Highlights on the First day of WTC Finals:
The first day did not go quite well for India, they won the toss and chose to field first which did not prove to be fruitful as the Australians amassed a formidable total of 327/3 runs within the first day. The Unbeatable partnership of Steve Smith and Travis Head facilitated Australia to put a massive score on the board, the two added 251 runs for the 4th wicket and remained unbeaten at the end of the day’s play.
However, India started off perfectly with Mohammad Siraj dropping the first blood, getting Usman Khawaja out on duck, followed by Khawaja was Warner, who smashed 43 runs in 60 balls, however his exceptional performance was cut short by Shardul Thakur, who managed to take his wicket before the lunchtime. After the lunch break Mohammad Shami struck a big wicket of Marnus Labuschagne.
But after that the things did not go quite according to India, barring Mohammad Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja none of the other bowlers managed to bowl with an economy rate of 3.50 or less. Now, India has a big task to take quick wickets on the second day, and resist the Aussies to rack up anymore runs.