Indian Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar is baffled by the Indian team management’s treatment of the World No.1 Ravichandran Ashwin in test cricket. The 36-year-old was dropped from the playing 11 for the World Test Championship final in favour of Umesh Yadav and Sharul Thakur, which proved to be costly for India in the end.
The Indian team management went into the game with four seamers for the one-off test as they failed to assess the conditions in Kennington, Oval. He had been left out of India’s matches in England in 2021 and 2022, citing the overcast and pitch conditions in England.
In his column for Mid-Day, Sunil Gavaskar feels that none of the Indian modern-day greats were treated such as Ravichandran Ashwin and is also baffled by India’s decision to leave the World No.1 bowler citing out conditions in England and also recalled Ashwin’s place in the playing 11, as he was left out of the team in overseas conditions despite doing well in the given opportunities.
“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,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been an asset for India ever since making his debut in 2011 against West Indies. He is currently the number one Test bowler in the world and is also India’s leading wicket-taker in WTC 2021-23 cycle but could not find a place in the team for the final against Australia.
The Australian Had Five Left-handers In The Team – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar believes that it was a huge tactical blunder by the Indian team in the final against Australia, as the team had five-left handers in their team, with Travis Head and Alex Carey making the real difference in the game, as the Indian off-spinner has the upper hand over them in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
“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,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
Ashwin has been the standout performer at home and has improved his record in foreign conditions over the last few years to provide some crucial breakthroughs for his team. The veteran all-rounder is India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket of all time – 474 wickets at 23.93 – only behind Anil Kumble.