Ravichandran Ashwin was not included in the Indian World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final XI, which was lamented by legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar. He may have had a significant impact on the team’s performance against Australia at The Oval in London. In the final, Australia comfortably defeated India by 209 runs in just over 4 days.

Ashwin was not picked as India went in with 4 pacers and a lone spinner in Ravindra Jadeja for the summit clash against Australia.

India went into the five-match series in England in 2021–22 with a full-strength pace attack that included a fully-fit Jasprit Bumrah but skipped R Ashwin. India chose four pacers, two of whom — Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav — missed games in the latter rounds of the IPL 2023 owing to injury concerns, despite the fact that Bumrah was injured and was therefore unavailable for the WTC final.

On the first day of the WTC 2023 final, India won the toss and decided to field in consideration of the cloudy weather in London. However, an hour into the day’s play, the sun emerged beaming bright, and it stayed sunny for the remainder of the Test match. India failed to improve their bowling performance in the first innings, allowing Australia to score a massive first-innings total of 469.

Skillful Spinners Don’t Always Rely On Turning Tracks: Sachin Tendulkar On India Missing A Trick By Excluding Ravi Ashwin

Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur’s brave fifties allowed India to avoid follow-on after the top-order faltered in the first innings, where they scored 296 and India then played a catch-up game. Australia increased the pressure by scoring 270 for 8 in the second innings and giving India a target of 444.

India could only manage 234 in their second innings and lost the match and WTC mace to Australia by 209 runs.

“Congratulations to Team Australia on winning the #WTCFinal. @stevesmith49 and @travishead34 set a solid foundation on Day one itself to tilt the game in their favour. India had to bat big in the first innings to stay in the game, but they couldn’t.

There were some good moments for Team India, but I fail to understand the exclusion of @ashwinravi99 in the playing XI, who is currently the number one Test bowler in the world. Like I had mentioned before the match, skillful spinners don’t always rely on turning tracks, they use drift in the air and bounce off the surface to disguise their variations. Not to forget, Australia had 5 left-handers out of their top 8 batters,” Tendulkar tweeted.

Congratulations to Team Australia on winning the #WTCFinal. @stevesmith49 and @travishead34 set a solid foundation on Day one itself to tilt the game in their favour. India had to bat big in the first innings to stay in the game, but they couldn’t. There were some good moments…

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 11, 2023

India has now lost their last 4 ICC finals, including the two World Test Championship finals that they managed to reach in the first two cycles of the format.

Also Read: WTC Final: Rohit Sharma Slammed By Sanjay Manjrekar For Being ‘Greedy’ Against Nathan Lyon; Compares Him With Virat Kohli In His Prime