India witnessed a crushing defeat at the Oval Ground on Sunday against Australia. The Aussies win the title by triumphing over India with 209 runs. Debates and discussions are conducted to analyze what went awry for the Asian Giants. The legendary, Sunil Gavaskar is still not reconciled with the fact that India dropped the No.1 ICC bowler Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI. Ravichandran Ashwin has good statistics on England pitches and is considered one of the best bowlers in the Test series.
Ravichandran Ashwin has played a mere seven Test matches in England so far since 2014. Having bowled across 11 innings, he has scalped 18 wickets at an average and strike rate of 28.11 and 66.7 respectively. His bowling figures have been exceptional, in addition to that his outstanding batting performance has made him a multi-talented player. Ravichandran Ashwin has smacked 3,234 runs against Australia in mere 22 matches with a batting average of 28.36. Thus, he could have provided great depth to India’s playing XI in the ICC WTC Finals.
“No Other Top-Class Indian Cricketer Of This Era Has Been Treated As Bafflingly As Ravichandran Ashwin..” – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar is disturbed by the reality that Indian Team has ousted Ashwin from ICC WTC Finals, it has made him baffled, as he believes no other top Indian cricketer has been subjected to the baffling treatment which has been meted out to Ashwin. He Wrote in his latest column for Mid-Day:
“No other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated as baffingly as Ashwin has been. Tell me if there was a NO.1 ICC-ranked batter in the team, would he have been left out of the playing XI just because in earlier times he had not got runs on a grassy pitch or if he had not scored runs on a dry spin- friendly pitch? Definitely not.” said Sunil Gavaskar.
“This is not being wise after the event, but a pattern that has been seen over the years. But for this ‘hard to understand thinking’ he would have already played more than 100 test matches.” he stated.
“Even if India were to win, it should not blind us to the treatment given to Ashwin and Whatever the explaination that is given, the bowling results in the match where India have been asked to chase 444 tells us that dropping him was not the right call to make,” he added.
Despite Major Left-Handed Batsman In Australia, India Dropped Ashwin From Playing XI
Ashwin has played 92 test matches with 474 wickets, he was still ousted in spite of five left-handed batters in Australia’s batting order. He had also been left-out of India’s matches in England in 2021 and 2022, with conditions being cited as the reason.
Sunil Gavaskar believes, Ashwin would have been very impactful against some of the Australian’s key left-handed batters like Travis Head, Alex Carrey and even Mitchell Starc. He wrote:
“India dropped Ravichandran Ashwin, the NO.1 ranked bowler in the game, according to the ICC rankings. The Australians had five left-handers in the team and while one leftie- Travis Head- scored a quickfire century in the first innings, another southpaw Alex Carrey got a 48 in the first innings and an unbeaten 66 in the second,” Gavaskar said.
Alex Carrey and Mitchell Starc also put up a partnership of 93 runs, Ashwin would have made a great impact against these batter. Gavaskar opined that he could have also contributed with the bat. Thus, India made a false decision of dropping Ashwin out of the playing XI.