Team India's decision to drop No.1 Ranked bowler R Ashwin for WTC Final gets lambasted

The Indian cricket team struggled on the Day 1 of the World Test Championship Final against Australia wherein the Aussie batters Travis Head and Steve Smith dominated the whole day. Team India played with a combination of four seamers and one spin-bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The Indian team management left out the number spin-bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin and faced a lot of criticism for the same. 

The Kennington Oval pitch which looked to be helpful for the seamers turned out to be a batting paradise wherein Travis Head and Steve Smith had a solid partnership after Australia were 78/3 at one stage. Cricket experts including Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting, Tom Moody, and many more slammed the Indian team over their decision to leave out R Ashwin from the playing XI of the IND vs AUS WTC Final 2023. 

Cricket experts lambast Indian team management over R Ashwin's exclusion 

While speaking on Star Sports on-air Sunil Gavaskar said, "India missed the trick by not playing Ravi Ashwin. He's the No. 1 Ranked bowler. You don't look at the pitch for players like him."

READ: WTC Final, IND vs AUS live score and updates

While former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly was also unhappy with the decision of omitting R Ashwin from the playing XI and said on Star Sports, "See it's an afterthought. And I don't believe in afterthoughts. As a captain, you take a decision before the toss and India had decided that they would go in with 4 fast bowlers. Having said that, in the last couple of years, they have had success in the last couple of years with 4 pacers. They've won Test matches but if you ask me... if I was captaining - and every captain is different - Rohit and I think differently. I would find it very hard to keep a spinner out of Ashwin's quality out of the XI." 

Former Aussie batsmen Ricky Ponting and Tom Moody were also among the cricket experts to criticise the Indian team management over R Ashwin's exclusion from the playing XI. 

READ: IND vs AUS: India bowling coach reveals why India dropped 'champion bowler' R Ashwin for WTC Final

"India has made a mistake of picking a bowling attack just for the first innings of the game. Australia has many left-handers; Ashwin would trouble the left-handers more than Jadeja. I saw the grass, yes there was grass but the deeper I looked, it seemed dry to me", Ricky Ponting said on Star Sports. 

While Tom Moody took an indirect dig at the Indian team and wrote on Twitter, "It’s becoming increasingly apparent India don’t have their best available attack on the field. English conditions require a combination of skill and control." 

Former cricketers like Michael Vaughan, Wasim Jaffer, and Akash Chopra also wrote on Twitter and criticised the Indian team management over the R Ashwin's exclusion from the team. 

Partnerships are bound to happen but you still have to restrict the scoring by bowling tight lines. A wicketless session doesn't hurt as much when it's gone for 90-100 runs and not 147 which Ind gave in the final session yesterday. Goes without saying Ashwin was missed. #WTCFinal

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14)

Once India decided to bowl first (in case, India won the toss), there was no way they would’ve played Ashwin. Four seamers was the right way to go. And Jadeja has got the nod over Ash in almost all overseas Tests in this cycle…so, how and why did you expect anything different…

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)

No @ashwinravi99 for #India is a big mistake .. !! #WTC2023

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)

The Indian cricket team would be hoping to bounce back on Day 2 of the World Test Championship Final and will try to restrict Australia as soon as possible and also bat well in the first innings to make a strong comeback into the match.