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Former India captain and legendary batter, Sunil Gavaskar didn't mince his words and launched a scathing attack on Rohit Sharma and the Indian team management for making a massive selection blunder for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Gavaskar joined the bandwagon of pundits who criticised the Indian team's decision to drop No.1 ranked Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI.
"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 said on Star Sports.
After winning the toss, captain Rohit elected to bowl first as the wicket had a nice covering of green grass. Looking at the pitch and the conditions, India went in with a four-seamer-one-spinner combination that forced Ashwin to sit on the bench. India's decision backfired quickly as Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur looked out of sorts. The duo ended up leaking a ton of runs that ultimately eased the pressure off Australia.
Gavaskar opined that both Umesh and Shardul were undercooked coming into the WTC final as they missed many matches during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season. Furthermore, Gavaskar also affirmed that the presence of multiple left-handed batters in the Australian batting line-up was tailor-made for the selection of Ashwin.
"Sometimes, you get a little carried away. If you have 4 quality seam bowlers, it's a different thing. Top-quality seam bowlers," said Gavaskar.
"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. 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.
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