At Stumps on Day 1, India were completely outclassed by Australia after India won the toss and asked Australia to bat first under cloudy conditions.
At first, it looked like a good toss to win as Australia were reduced to 76-3 and Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami were able to exploit the pitch conditions. However, Travis Head and Steve Smith joined hands to stitch a 251-run partnership and the duo are unbeaten going into Day 2, with Head nearing his 150 and Smith nearing yet another century.
Then, the question remains. Did India miss a trick by not playing Ravichandran Ashwin?
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What did India captain Rohit Sharma say about dropping Ashwin at the toss?
Much of the speculation going into this game was whether India would go in with two spinners or four seamers, and it India went in with four seamers, then who out of Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin would be the only spinner?
At the toss, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was asked about the playing combo and spoke about Ashwin.
"[We are going with ] four seamers and one spinner. The spinner is Jadeja. It's always tough [to leave Ashwin], he's been a match-winner for us over the course of so many years. But you got to do the things that's needed for the team and eventually we came up with that decision."
Although it is understandable why the management decided to drop Ashwin, it's also difficult to comprehend how they couldn't give the off-spinner the benefit of the doubt against an Australian batting unit that consists of four left-handers in the top seven.
Even Ricky Ponting pointed that out during the match that India made a blunder by dropping Ashwin.
"There's going to be turn in this Oval pitch as the game progresses. Australia have many lefties in their lineup which Ravi Ashwin would've liked. I believe it was a mistake from India."
It remains to be seen whether India made the right call by dropping Ashwin, but if Day 1 was anything to go by, it's a call that could very well lead to a second successive WTC Final loss.
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