Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar was surprised that Ravichandran Ashwin was dropped for the World Test Championship Final 2023 where India were defeated comprehensively by Australia.
Upon the conclusion of the Test on Sunday, Tendulkar took to Twitter to express his thoughts on the omission of Ravichandran Ashwin from the Playing XI.
India missed out on being crowned with the Test mace as Australia won the WTC Final in London by a margin of 209 runs. India lost the final for the second consecutive time after getting beaten by New Zealand in 2021.
Tendulkar noted that Steve Smith and Travis Head’s partnership in the first innings was where India lost their grip on this final. The duo’s partnership meant Australia scored 469 runs in the first innings and maintained their supremacy over their opponents throughout the match.
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Ashwin would have capitalized against five left-handers of Australia: Tendulkar
Ashwin is currently the No. 1 ranked bowler in Test cricket. However, he was dropped from the WTC Final playing XI by the Indian team management since they felt the conditions favoured pace bowling.
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
Five of Australia’s top eight batsmen in the batting order were left-handed. Tendulkar, like many others, believed Ashwin should not have been dropped.
“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”, Sachin added.
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