Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at the team management and selectors for dropping Ravichandran Ashwin from the World Test Championship final against Australia, which India lost by a mammoth margin of 209 runs.
Gavaskar said no other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated as bafflingly as Ashwin has been. Ashwin also could not get a chance in the previous series against England in English conditions.
The off-spinner is the number one bowler in the ICC Test rankings but he was kept on the sidelines in the summit clash against Australia. The decision was baffling as Ashwin had scalped 25 wickets in four Test matches against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series earlier in the year, even though those wickets came in favorable home conditions.
Furthermore, Ashwin could have also contributed with the bat while batting down the order. However, India decided to back Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav ahead of the all-rounder. While Thakur played an important knock of 51 runs in the first innings and thus justified his selection, Yadav could not deliver the goods with the ball.
“No other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated as bafflingly 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.”
“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.
“Even if India were to win, it should not blind us to the treatment given to Ashwin and whatever the explanation 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,” wrote Gavaskar in his column for Mid-Day.
The Little Master added that India should have played Ravichandran Ashwin in the final XI as Australia had five left-handers in their team. It is well known that Ashwin has a great record against the southpaws. As on 11 February, Ashwin has dismissed 230 left-handed batters in 166 Test innings.
“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 Carey got a 48 in the first innings and an unbeaten 66 in the second.”
“During that second innings effort, he also put on 93 runs with another left-hander Mitchell Starc at a time when India were looking to dismiss Australia cheaply in the second innings. If Ashwin had been in the team, who knows what could have happened? With the bat too, he could have contributed,” said Gavaskar.
India will now take on West Indies in July.
