Ravichandran Ashwin the shrewd spinner who has exceptional statistics in England and is NO.1 bowler in The ICC rankings is unable to find a place in the playing XI. India on the first day of the one-off test went with four seamers and one spinner, they took Jadeja as their major spinner and dropped the mighty Ravichandran Ashwin, which ignited the sparks among many.
As Australia scored 327 runs in one day, India’s decision of going with one additional seamer has backfired, creating a stiff among fans and cricket experts. Sunil Gavaskar claimed that Ashwin performed outstandingly well in the Border-Gavaskar trophy, thus he should have been picked up by the Indian management, he was totally dissatisfied by the team’s decision, not to select Ashwin.
“Two Of Our Seam Bowlers Were Undercooked..” – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar says that the team’s decision to take an undercooked seamer and leaving the off-spinner has really baffled him, he stated while talking to ICC:
“Well, first and foremost, they could have taken R Ashwin in the team. It really baffles me irrespective 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 Ravichandran Ashwin. Even the last time when India were here (in England), they were just not picking him, ” Gavaskar Said.
“Sometimes, you get little carried away. If you have 4 quality seam bowlers, it’s a different thing. Top-quality seam bowlers, with so many left-handers in the Australian XI, Ravichandran Ashwin should have been there. I think that’s where India missed a trick,” he stated.
“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 franchsies. They might have been little overcooked despite it being a 4 over spell,” he added.
WTC Finals First Day Highlights:
On the first day, India won the toss and chose to field, they started off exceptionably well by Mohammad Siraj taking the first wicket of Usman Khawaja, getting him out on duck while the second wicket was taken by the fourth seamer Shardul Thakur of in-form David Warner, who played a phenomenal knock of 43 in 60 balls. After lunch break, Mohammad Shami struck a big wicket of Marnus Labuschagne.
Although the Asian-giants were looking formidable until lunchtime, they were not able to make use of their seamers, as the partnership between Smith and Head yielded 252 runs for the 4th wicket and remain unbeaten by the end of the first day.
The total-run score of Australia on the inception was 327/3 and they are now going to look to capitalize on it. India has to take quick wickets on the second day to resist and prevent Australia to pile up anymore runs, it is going to be a difficult task for India.