In the 2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia, India took a bold decision to not include Ravichandran Ashwin, the top-ranked Test bowler in the world. This decision was confirmed by India captain Rohit Sharma after winning the toss and opting to bowl first at The Oval.
The pitch at The Oval has a greenish tinge, and the variable overhead weather conditions in England further convinced the Indian team management to exclude Ashwin from the playing XI. Instead, they opted to stick with Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner, following the same approach they used against England in similar conditions during 2021 and 2022.
In hindsight, India’s previous decision to field both spinners in their team two years ago was considered a selection mistake, as the cloudy weather and rain reduced the effectiveness of spin in the 2021 WTC Final against New Zealand.
Since then, Ashwin has been left unused in the squad during India’s tour of England in the latest WTC cycle, leading the selectors to continue with the same strategy.
Consequently, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur are the four bowlers in the starting XI at The Oval, while Axar Patel and Jaydev Unadkat, the other bowlers in the squad, have not been selected.
Meanwhile, the netizens lost their cool after not finding Ashwin in India’s playing XI. The veteran spinner was among the top Twitter trends.
Here’s how the fans reacted:
No for is a big mistake .. !!
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)
Ashwin being the #1 Test bowler and not playing…. again… sums it up doesn’t it? #1 where? Who’s good? Who is good where? What does any of this mean? This isn’t even Devon Conway’s favourite thing
— Ian Higgins (@1an_Higgins)
Expected India XI except that Thakur is playing and Ashwin is out but I think conditions played a huge role here, we are going with 4 seamers and a spinner.
A good toss to win. Time for our bowlers to crack the new duke ball, Come on India 🇮🇳
— Bhawana (@cricbhawana)
Rohit dropped Ashwin . 🤣🤣Where is your essay seasonal Kirkir fan☕
— Archer (@poserarcher)
No. 1 Test bowler Ashwin not in playing 11
Rohit Sharma is not my captain 😤— Pranay 🇮🇳 (@Pun_nay)
Looking at the seam movement and uneven bounce on offer, not picking Ashwin is looking a bad move already. He would have posed a proper challenge here with his release point and drift alone to go with these factors
— Soorya Sesha (@sooryasesha7)
I would 100% have picked Ashwin.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek)
Not done
Dropped test bowler from .. not a good decision, u hv preferred Thakur in place of legendary ..
— CA Santosh Ramanuj Tiwari 🇮🇳 (@FCA_Santosh)
The amount of times Ashwin misses out.. unreal for someone with 400+ test wickets
— Mustafa Naqvi (@musti90)
Man, no Ashwin is huge. Had some nice results vs Smith, Marnus & co. In Aus last time around, let alone the batting!
But, winning the toss & bowling first is what they were planning for! Game on! 🔥
— Trent Copeland (@copes9)
I think should not even bother to travel to England with the team. Every Test match, this legend sits out. Conditions may matter but one should always play to their strengths. Four lefties in aussie team. This is not India's best bowling attack. Period.
— G. S. Vivek (@GSV1980)
No Ashwin feels like a big plus for Australia. They won’t mind not seeing Axar Patel coming in at No.9 either.
— Andrew Wu (@wutube)
