'India's top bowler's absence perplexes me' - Sunil Gavaskar bashes India for benching R Ashwin in WTC final

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is baffled by India’s decision to bench Ravichandran Ashwin, the No. 1 Test bowler, for the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval in London. Once the toss took place and Rohit Sharma revealed his playing XI for the WTC final, the big talking point was the omission of Ravichandran Ashwin. India took early wickets on Day 1, but as conditions improved and Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne assumed control, it seemed India missed Ashwin.

With 61 wickets to his name, Ashwin is the leading wicket-taker for India in the WTC 2021–23 cycle. The off-spinner is also the top-ranked bowler in the ICC Test rankings. Earlier this year, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ashwin scalped 25 wickets and shared the Player of the Series award with Ravindra Jadeja.

In the same vein, Gavaskar suggested that India should have chosen the off-spinner, admitting he felt bewildered by their selection to leave him out.

"Well, first and foremost, they could have R Ashwin in the team (what India could have done differently on Day 1?). 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 Ashwin. Even the last time when India were here (in England), they were just not picking him," Gavaskar told Star Sports.

India missed a trick by not playing Ravi Ashwin: Gavaskar

The former cricketer remarked that Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur walked into the match with unfinished bowling performances from the recently concluded IPL. In his 14 overs of bowling, Umesh failed to pick up a wicket and gave away 54 runs. On the other hand, Shardul bowled 18 overs and leaked 75 runs for a single wicket. Gavaskar felt that India missed a trick by not kicking off Ashwin in the match given the large number of left-handers in the Australian batting order.

"Sometimes, you get a little carried away. If you have four quality seam bowlers, it’s a different thing. Top-quality seam bowlers. 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," Gavaskar said.

"On the other hand, you had two bowlers who played every single game for their franchises. They might have been little overcooked despite it being a 4-over spell. With so many left-handers in the Australian XI, an off-spinner should have been there. I think that’s where India missed a trick," he added further.