Former India international Sachin Tendulkar has questioned the Indian team for not including off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after the WTC Final 2021-23 loss against Australia. Playing at the Oval, India got off to a poor start as the Aussies posted a massive 469-run total in the first innings with Travis Head and Steven Smith scoring 100s.
With the bat, India furthered their struggles as they lost many early wickets but still managed to score 269 runs. Then in the second innings, the Indians started off well with the ball but soon allowed the Aussie lower order to score frequent runs and set a massive 444-run target. In the fourth innings, the Indian batters were completely blown out with Australia registering a massive 204-run victory.
Reacting to this loss, Sachin Tendulkar congratulated the Australian team for their efforts and praised Travis Head and Steven Smith for their first innings tons. Later Tendulkar questioned Ravi Ashwin’s exclusion from the Playing XI. He further talked about how top bowlers like Ashwin don’t rely on conditions to make an impact and also pointed out the fact that Australia had five left-handers.
“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, skilful 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.”
Check out the tweet here: